Halle Berry, Zoë Kravitz, Colin Firth and Jack Whitehall have signed on to lead Otherwise Engaged, a new romantic comedy from director Suzanne Farwell. The package is being introduced to international buyers around the TIFF Market ahead of a planned New York shoot in March 2027.
Farwell co-wrote the screenplay with Gabriel Mizrahi. She has spent years producing relationship-driven films and working with Nancy Meyers, which makes her move into this particular kind of generational romantic comedy feel fairly natural.
One wedding somehow produces two romances
Whitehall plays Charlie, who is preparing to marry Gabby, played by Kravitz. Their plans take a sharp turn when Charlie's estranged father arrives on their doorstep.
Firth plays the father, a fallen business tycoon newly released from prison. He then meets Gabby's fiercely independent mother, played by Berry, and the two begin falling for each other.
That is the central complication. Charlie and Gabby are trying to build a future together while their parents unexpectedly create a relationship of their own, turning what should be the younger couple's dream wedding into a much more awkward family event.
Berry and Kravitz get a different kind of family connection
The mother-daughter casting has an amusing piece of pop-culture history attached to it. Berry and Kravitz have both played Catwoman on screen, though in very different eras and very different Batman universes. Otherwise Engaged brings them together without needing Gotham to do it.
Firth also arrives with obvious romantic-comedy history thanks to films including Bridget Jones's Diary and Love Actually. This time the familiar charm comes attached to a character who has lost his business empire, been imprisoned and apparently still has enough confidence left to complicate his son's wedding.
Suzanne Farwell takes the director's chair
Farwell has produced films including The Intern and It's Complicated and has worked extensively within sophisticated relationship comedy. She will direct Otherwise Engaged while also producing alongside Susan Cartsonis for Resonate Entertainment and Laura Rister for Esme Grace Pictures.
Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales and brought the film to the TIFF Market for pre-sales. CAA Media Finance is handling U.S. rights.
Production starts next year
Filming is currently scheduled to begin in New York in March 2027. The project remains in pre-production, and no release date has been announced.
There is no trailer or official footage yet. For now, Otherwise Engaged is selling a cast, a wedding and the wonderfully inconvenient possibility that the parents may have a more disruptive romance than the people actually getting married.
