Jillian Bell Joins Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross In Prime Video’s Holiday Comedy ‘Candy Cane Lane’

By Matt Grobar | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Jillian Bell (Brittany Runs a Marathon) has been tapped to star alongside Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross in the holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane, which Reginald Hudlin is directing for Amazon.

The plot of the film shooting in Los Angeles, as part of the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program, is under wraps. But its writer, Kelly Younger, based the script on his own childhood holiday experiences. Producers include Murphy and Charisse Hewitt-Webster for Eddie Murphy Productions, and Brian Grazer and Karen Lunder for Imagine Entertainment.

Candy Cane Lane is the first film being made under a three-picture and first-look film deal between Murphy and Amazon Studios and will ultimately stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. 

Bell is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer and producer who was previously in business with Prime Video as the exec producer and star of the acclaimed indie Brittany Runs a Marathon, which claimed the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance before going on to earn Bell the Fairbanks Award at the San Diego Film Festival. Other notable film credits for her include Sword of Trust, Rough Night, Fist Fight, Office Christmas Party, The Night Before, 22 Jump Street and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice and The Master, to name a few.

Bell co-created, wrote, produced and starred in Comedy Central’s Idiotsitter and has also been seen on such series as Workaholics, Eastbound & Down, Portlandia, Partners and Curb Your Enthusiasm, along with a wide assortment in the animated space. She most recently appeared alongside Parker Posey in the AMC anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead and starred opposite Natalie Morales in the Brandon Dermer-directed sci-fi dramedy I’m Totally Fine for Decal.

Other upcoming projects for Bell include Charlie Day’s directorial debut El Tonto, Netflix’s Murder Mystery 2, and the comedy Reunion with Billy Magnussen and Lil Rel Howery. She is represented by CAA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.