EXCLUSIVE: Matt Rife and Dan Lagana have sold The Chasm, a feature pitch based on an original idea from Rife, to Skydance Sports. In addition to starring, Rife will co-write and produce alongside Lagana, with Christina Shams serving as executive producer.
The Chasm is a mockumentary comedy following an overconfident climber who, after losing his best friend and climbing partner to unexpected and unfortunate circumstances, chooses to proceed solo on a historic and potentially fatal rock climb. In the vein of Lagana’s American Vandal, and in the visual style of Free Solo, the film explores the friendships men anchor themselves to, and the challenges they face when those safety systems fail.
One of today’s biggest stand-ups, with over 42.6 million followers and more than 3 billion views across platforms, Rife has been on a roll as an actor since signing up to star opposite Owen Wilson in Rolling Loud, an R-rated comedy co-produced by Live Nation Productions and American High that releases this year. Upcoming, he’ll also be seen starring in Netflix’s FTX series The Altruists, as well as The Escort, a new comedy from Wedding Crashers helmer David Dobkin. Amidst his acting commitments, Rife has been selling out arenas around the globe on his biggest tour to-date, the Stay Golden Tour, which has seen him become the youngest comedian to sell out Madison Square Garden — and do so twice. Recently, he’s also set records at both Columbus’ Nationwide Arena and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena for most single event tickets sold for any event, as well as the all-time ticket sales record at Manchester’s SNHU Arena. Rife is repped by Avesta Entertainment, UTA, and Felker Toczek.
Lagana most recently teamed with Nate Bargatze to co-write and produce the forthcoming TriStar family comedy The Breadwinner, in which the comedian stars opposite Mandy Moore. Currently, he’s writing a half-hour comedy with Jimmy Tatro for A24 and HBO called Lifties, a project we scooped which the pair will co-write and executive produce for Tatro to star. Lagana’s concurrently co-writing the musical film The Stand In at Amazon with Rudy Mancuso, with Andy and Barbara Muschietti aboard as producers. Earlier in his career, Lagana served as showrunner and executive producer on Netflix’s Peabody Award-winning mockumentary, American Vandal. He also co-created and showran Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, an MTV series that launched the career of Bo Burnham. He is repped by Paul Young and UTA.
