‘The Plague’ Exec Producer James Presson Boards Frontières Biopic Parody ‘Humpty: American Dream’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Producer James Presson (“The Plague”) has boarded “Humpty: American Dream,” a raunchy biopic parody from directors Maxwell Nalevansky and Carl Fry (“Rats!”), who are producing through their U.S. company Pleasure Cinemagroup.

The news falls ahead of the project’s debut at the Fantasia International Film Festival’s Frontières Co-Production Market, held July 22–25 in Montreal.

“Our main goal at the market is to raise millions of dollars by connecting with potential financiers and other potential partners,” Canadian producer partner Taylor Nodrick (Ghoul Nexus Inc) told Variety. “We also hope that attending the market helps raise the profile of the film in general as we start casting.”

Nodrick, Fry, and Nalevansky, who is also the screenwriter, will be attending the market along with Presson (whose TV credits include “Ray Donovan” and “For All Mankind”) and Alison Moses, who was a producer on “Rats!,” which won the Audience Award Bronze in the Best International Feature category of the 2024 Fantasia festival.

Nodrick, who works at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, was an early fan of “Rats!” and told the filmmakers, during their Calgary stop, that he wanted to be part of their next project. “Maxwell and Carl sat me down and imparted the story of Humpty Dumpty, and their vision of making an original, beautifully crafted comedy that parodies the biopic genre while also functioning as a standalone epic,” Nodrick said.

The filmmakers told Variety they want to give their audience “the full story” of Humpty’s rise before his historic fall and are pulling visual inspiration from ’70s fantasy and erotic Italian cinema, because “the audience doesn’t want the same shit.” They teased that Luke Wilcox and other familiar faces from “Rats!” will also make appearances in “Humpty” along with recognizable comedians.

Nalevansky came across Generic Animal through the YouTube series “Colours” and was drawn to his songwriting they started communicating regularly about their work. Generic Animal has been composing music and translating Nalevansky’s lyrics into Italian, and “will play his expository musical narration in character as The Minstrel, who both sets the tone and breaks up the story,” the writer said.