Cheech and Chong biopic is in development at Hidden Pictures with Kristian Mercado as director

Hey, Dave’s not here, man.

Who is here, though, is Todd Lieberman of Hidden Pictures as he partners with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, and Underground as well as Five All in the Fifth Entertainment for a planned biopic of the comedy team, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cheech and Chong are the comic duo who brought the stoners to the mainstream with their 1978 movie, Up in Smoke. They gained popularity with their uncensored and counterculture comedy and followed that movie with Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie in 1980 and Nice Dreams in 1981.

The biopic is set to have Kristian Mercado at the helm as director. Mercado is no stranger to making comedies, having directed specials for comedians Michael Che, Hannibal Burress, Ilana Glazer, and more. He recently made his feature film debut with his film If You Were Last, starring Anthony Mackie and Missi Pyle, which screened at SXSW this year. The screenplay for the biopic is to be penned by screenwriters Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan.

Marin had recently formed a working relationship with Hidden Pictures, having been in the Amazon Prime Video movie Shotgun Wedding. Tommy Chong will be executive producing the film along with David Glickman. The lowrider duo expressed their enthusiasm for having this project realized, “We are excited to show the world how two dudes from completely different backgrounds got together, changed comedy, and made cannabis mainstream!”

Underground’s Trevor Engelson glowed about being involved with this biopic, “Working with Cheech and Chong is a childhood dream of mine. I used to listen to my father’s copy of their albums growing up, so to help bring their incredible true story to a new generation of fans is a real honor.”

Kristian Mercado is also busy co-writing and producing a reboot of the Aeon Flux series for Paramount+. The screenwriters, Jimenez and McMechan, are also writing a script for K-pop Demon Hunters for Sony Pictures Animation as well as developing the blacklisted script for Luna Likes as a feature film. The writing duo also has the notable credit of the Comedy Central reboot of Ren & Stimpy on their resume.