Bill Murray to star in Aziz Ansari’s feature directorial debut

Aziz Ansari is gearing up to make his foray into direction soon. The Emmy Award-winning comedian will make his feature film directorial debut by adapting a novel, written by American public health official and surgeon Atul Gawande. And one of the biggest Hollywood stars has been roped in to star in the upcoming film as well, the Academy Award-nominee Bill Murray.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming film is based on Gawande’s non-fiction book, titled Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. It deals with the themes of aging and death, and the differences between dealing with them through a medical lens vs a human one.

In addition to directing, Ansari will also produce the film, write the script and act in it. The Searchlight Pictures film will also have Youree Henley as a producer.

The upcoming film will not be the first time Ansari has sat in the director’s chair, although it is his maiden film directorial. The comedian has also directed a few episodes of his Netflix show Master of None, which he also created and starred in. He was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding directing.

His latest comedy special for Netflix, titled Nightclub Comedian, will be available to stream on the streaming giant’s platform sometime this year.

Murray had recently made appearances in Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. He will next be seen in the films, Asteroid City, The Greatest Beer Run Ever and also the Marvel Studios’ film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.