Andy Roddick to Star With Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen in Pickleball Comedy ‘The Dink,’ From Producer Ben Stiller

Former tennis champion Andy Roddick will star alongside Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen and Ed Harris in the upcoming pickleball comedy “The Dink.”

Josh Greenbaum, the filmmaker of “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” and the upcoming documentary “Will & Harper,” is directing the film. Ben Stiller’s company Red Hour Films and Rivulet Films will serve as producers. Sean Clements (“Workaholics,” “Kevin Can F**k Himself”) wrote the screenplay for “The Dink,” which is set to begin principle photography this November in Los Angeles.

Johnson will play a washed-up tennis pro who is trying to save a club in crisis and win his father’s respect. But in the process, he’s forced to break a solemn vow and do the one thing he swore he’d never do: play pickleball. It’s unclear who anyone else is playing in “The Dink,” but Stiller will appear in a supporting role.

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Rivulet will also be fully financing this production and the company’s senior strategic advisor Rick Steele will serve as executive producer alongside Sean Clements and Greenbaum. Rivulet’s Rob Paris and Mike Witherill will produce with Stiller and John Lesher of Red Hour Films. Stiller and Rivulet’s most recent collaborated on director David Gordon Green’s family comedy “Nutcrackers,” which opened the Toronto International Film Festival and sold to Hulu for eight figures.

Johnson will also serve as a producer. He’s best known for playing Nick Miller in the sitcom “New Girl” as well as voicing a version of Peter Parker in Sony’s animated “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” He recently wrote, starred in and directed “Self Reliance,” a comedic thriller about a man who is offered $1 million to play a game in which he must outwit hunters as they attempt to kill him. He thinks he has found the perfect loophole because he can only be attacked when he’s alone. The only problem is that none of his friends or family want to keep him company because they don’t believe the game is real. 

Stiller,” whose comedy bona fides include “Zoolander” and “Tropic Thunder,” is readying to release the second season of “Severance,” the Apple TV+ show in which he serves as director and executive producer. Steenburgen is the Academy Award-winning actress of “Melvin and Howard,” “Step Brothers,” “Elf” and “Book Club.” Harris is best known for “The Hours,” “The Truman Show,” “Apollo 13” and “Pollack.” He recently starred in “Top Gun: Maverick” and A24’s crime thriller “Love Lies Bleeding” with Kristen Stewart.

Johnson is represented by UTA, Birch Public Relations, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein. Stiller by WME, ID and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Steenburgen by UTA, Entertainment 360, Wolf-Kasteler Public Relations, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman. Harris by CAA, Jill Fritzo PR, and Ziffren Brittenham. Roddick by WME. Greenbaum by UTA, Entertainment 360, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark. Clements by UTA and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.