Comedian Ramy Youssef and screen legend Sharon Stone will star in Martha & Muhammad, an of-the-moment comedy being produced and financed by A24.
The standup comedian wrote the script and will make his feature directorial debut with the project, which sources say tackles several hot button flashpoints as it tells the story of a white widowed socialite in New York who develops a relationship with a young Muslim man. Class, religion, immigration and age are on the table on what promises to be a showcase for both Youssef and Stone. A24 did not comment on the project’s details.
Youssef is producing via his Cairo Cowboy banner alongside Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, and Josh Safdie of Central, Christopher Storer and Tyson Bidner for American Light & Fixture, and A24.
Production is looking to begin this fall.
The feature is being made at a critical moment in American culture as Middle Eastern representation and the American-Muslim experience gain new levels of prominence. Much of that is being fueled on the political level, with figures such as New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed currently on the frontlines of many conversations on those topics.
Youssef has been tackling the Muslim-American experience for years within his stand-up comedy as well as his Hulu series, Ramy, which earned him a Golden Globe and a Peabody award, as well as a pair of Emmy Award nominations, for acting and directing.
Martha & Muhammad is the latest collaboration between Youssef and A24, which has proven a potent partnership. The team-up birthed Ramy as well as Youssef’s two critically acclaimed comedy specials, Feelings and More Feelings, both of which were nominated for Critics’ Choice and Writers Guild Awards. And the two were also behind #1 Happy Family USA, Prime Video’s hit animated series which is returning for a second season.
Stone is the Hollywood legend who starred with Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct and earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 crime saga Casino. The actress has been enjoying a resurgence of late and appeared in HBO’s third season of Euphoria. On the feature side, she recently wrapped David Mamet’s Speed the Plow alongside Ben Mendelsohn and has several other movies in the can, including Marc Maron’s ensemble feature In Memoriam as well as AGC Studios’ feature Babies in which she appears with Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick.
Youssef, who earlier this year released his third HBO stand-up special, Ramy Youssef: In Love, is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Yorn Levine.
Stone, who was last seen on the big screen as the scene-stealing villainess in Nobody 2, is repped by IAG, The Artists Partnership, Link Entertainment and Brecheen Feldman.
