First Look images of Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron in Long Shot arrive

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Today Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, released a batch of First Look photos for LONG SHOT, an upcoming comedy starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron from SNATCHED and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine. As part of the roll-out for the new pics, Entertainment Weekly got the "big screen" versions, in addition to some new details about the film.

The LONG SHOT project hails from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, creators of such outrageous comedy hits as SAUSAGE PARTY, the NEIGHBORS franchise, and KNOCKED UP. Liz Hannah (ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES, THE POST) and Dan Sterling (GIRLS, THE OFFICE) penned the script, which is expected to emmulate current political affairs, though the film has no intention of causing an uproar, much like Sterling and Rogen's THE INTERVIEW did with North Korea in 2014.

“I think this movie will steer clear from the controversies that befell our previous collaboration,” Rogen explained to EW.

You can see the collection of new photos both above and below:

Here's the official synopsis for LONG SHOT:

He’s a hard-hitting political writer with a talent for trouble. She’s the country’s top diplomat with a talent for…well, everything. When Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) reunites with his first crush who also happens to be the current US Secretary of State, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), he charms her with his self-deprecating humor and his memories of her youthful idealism. As she prepares to make a surprise run for the Oval Office, Charlotte hires Fred to punch up her campaign speeches and their unmistakable chemistry leads to a round-the-world affair. But Fred’s carefree indiscretions, past and present, could bring down her campaign before it even begins. The film redefines “international relations” with a profane, funny and unexpected love.

When Rogen spoke to EW about making a political comedy during these tumultuous times, he told the outlet, “We wanted to make a movie that acknowledged the political realities we all live in without trying to make too heavy-handed directives,” Rogen explained, “and at the same time make something that’s highly enjoyable and highly entertaining that appeals to as wide an audience as anything I’ve made.”

Theron also joined the conversation with EW, and began explaining away Charlotte and Fred's unique connection by saying, “There’s a nostalgia to [the relationship] and she really enjoys that, this remembrance of her when she was young.” Theron then added, “She somehow has forgotten that and he reminds her.”

According to Rogen, work on LONG SHOT – which had originally been titled FLARSKY – began several years ago, with Sterling's 2012 Blacklist script. As the creative process continued on, the film then gained the talent of Liz Hannah, who's success with co-writing Steven Speilberg's THE POST had made her an outstanding get.

As Theron tells it to EW, the purpose of LONG SHOT was to “tell a comedic love story in a unique way,” and that it was the concept of “telling a story that felt fresh and felt new in the confines of what a comedy or a love story could be" that turned her onto the project. Essentially, she wanted to "turn all of those ideas on their heads.”

LONG SHOT is expected to hit theater on May 3, 2019.