Michael Lewen To Direct High-Concept Comedy ‘White Knight’ For Screen Gems

EXCLUSIVE: Shortly on the heels of releasing his new comedy Tiny Fugitives, Michael Lewen has inked a deal to direct White Knight, a high-concept comedy that landed at Sony’s Screen Gems earlier this year, as we first reported.

White Knight‘s plot is being kept under wraps, though the film is described as outrageous, R-rated fare. It’s based on a spec by Christopher William Young, which Unknown Quantity’s Chris Bremner brought into the studio, where he has a deal. This followed Unknown Quantity Creative Executive Brandon Xie’s discovery of the script on the Black List website. Young is a Florida State grad who celebrated his first sale here as a writer while still working as a bartender at a popular L.A. hotspot.

Bremner and Jeff Arkuss will produce via Unknown Quantity.

Lewen comes to White Knight after writing and directing Tiny Fugitives, a comedy that released nationwide in theaters via Inaugural Entertainment on September 18. Johnny Knoxville stars in the flick from Point Grey Pictures and Tango Entertainment. Prior to his work on that film, Lewen made his feature directorial debut with Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between, a rom-com produced by Ace Entertainment in association with Lionsgate that was acquired by Netflix and premiered in 2022.

Lewen began his career at Apatow Productions, where he oversaw a wide range of acclaimed film and television projects, including Trainwreck, The Big Sick, The King of Staten Island and three seasons of Netflix’s Love. In television, he most recently exec produced the pilot of HBO Max’s Vegas High alongside Michael Showalter. He also directed “Sarah From College,” an episode of Love written by Apatow and featuring Vanessa Bayer alongside stars Gillian Jacobson and Paul Rust.