Dan Levy Recruits Cast for Directorial Debut ‘Good Grief’

Ruth Negga, Luke Evans and More Join Dan Levy’s ‘Good Grief’

Himesh Patel, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois and ‘Harry Potter’ veteran David Bradley are all in the ensemble for Levy’s directorial debut.

Dan Levy to direct 'Good Grief' for Netflix. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

Off the back of the huge success of ‘Schitt’s Creek’, Dan Levy has been popping up everywhere, and looking to expanding his skillset.

He’s already set up film directorial debut ‘Good Grief’, and has now locked in the cast he wants, with Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Luke Evans, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois, David Bradley and Jamael Westman.

Unlike some of his other projects, it doesn’t appear that Levy is starring in this one. And there’s no sign of his father, Eugene, either (though we wouldn’t rule out at least a cameo).

Details are scarce on what roles the cast are taking, but we do at least have some details. Written by Levy, the movie follows Marc Dreyfus. He’s chosen to distract himself from the loss of his mom with a comfortable marriage.

But when his husband also dies unexpectedly, Marc is forced to finally confront the grief he’s tried so hard to avoid, sending him and his two closest friends on a Parisian weekend of self-discovery.

“‘Good Grief’ is a cautionary tale about friendship and loss and all the mess that comes with it when the truth is something you’ve evaded for most of your life,” says Levy. “It’s funny, it’s bittersweet, it’s a project that has helped me work through my own grief. And I hope it does the same for other people as well.”

Negga needs little introduction at this point, but she scored an Oscar nomination for her work in 2016 ‘Loving’ and was excellent in last year’s ‘Passing’.

Ruth Negga to star in director Dan Levy's 'Good Grief' for Netflix. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

Patel broke out in 2019 alternate universe comedy drama ‘Yesterday’, where he played the only person on Earth who remembers The Beatles. He was more recently seen as part of the cast of HBO series ‘Station Eleven’.

Evans is a veteran of movies such as ‘Dracula Untold’, a couple of the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies (he’s Owen Shaw, brother to Jason Statham’s Deckard) and was also Gaston in Disney’s 2017 live-action adaptation of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

Imrie is a British acting stalwart, seen in ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, its sequel and all three Bridget Jones movies. She also had a key role on FX series ‘Better Things’.

Bradley is primarily known for two big genre roles – sneering Hogwarts caretaker Mr. Filch in the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and the brutal Walder Frey in several episodes of ‘Game of Thrones.’

French actor Valois is less well known in the States, but he has been seen in 2017’s ‘BPM (Beats Per Minute).'

Westman, meanwhile, has had roles in movies such as ‘Identicals’ and ‘Animals’ and was more recently one of the main characters in Apple TV+ series ‘The Essex Serpent’ opposite Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes.

‘Good Grief’ will be a Netflix release (not shocking given Levy’s ties to the streaming service given its support of ‘Schitt’s Creek’) but it doesn’t have a release date set yet.