Dean Craig has got a thing for death and dark comedy. The screenwriter behind Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral (2007) — and Neil Labute’s 2010 remake — is stepping behind the camera for The Estate.
When sisters/business partners Macey (Toni Collette) and Savanna (Anna Faris) learn that their miserable Aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner) is dying from cancer, they decide that getting on her good side might be their best last chance at inheriting her fortune and saving their soon-to-be-bankrupt cafe. Unfortunately, they’re not the only members of their family who decide that caring for Hilda in her final days could net them a bit of a windfall.
Upon arriving at Hilda’s estate, the sisters realize that their epiphany may have come too late, as it appears their cousins have been doing a better job of keeping up with their would-be benefactor. There’s Beatrice (Rosemarie DeWitt), who admits that Hilda “thinks the sun shines out of my ass,” and Richard, a.k.a. Dick (David Duchovny), whose idea of flattery includes telling his dying aunt that “if I weren’t your nephew I’d be only too happy to be inside you.” Which gives Macey and Savanna a darkly hilarious idea about how to out-maneuver their cousins.
Craig writes and directs the black comedy, which also stars Ron Livingston and Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who practically stole season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm as aspiring (terrible) actress Maria Sofia.
The Estate arrives in theaters on November 4, 2022.
