Keiynan Lonsdale, Dylan Sprouse, and Sarah Hyland are set to star in the romantic comedy My Fake Boyfriend, the latest team-up for Lionsgate and BuzzFeed.

Lonsdale will play, according to the film’s description, “a young man in a tricky situation, who follows the advice of his unconventional best friend (Sprouse) and uses social media to create a fake boyfriend to keep his awful ex-lover out of his life. But everything backfires when he meets the real love of his life, and breaking up with his fake boyfriend proves hard to do.”

Veteran television director Rose Troche (The L Word, Snowpiercer, Shameless) will helm from a script by Luke Albright, Joe Wanjai Ross and Greg Boaldin.

BuzzFeed’s head of studio Richard Alan Reid is producing along with Jason Moring and Michael Philip.

In July 2020, Lionsgate and Buzzfeed announced a partnership on a slate of narrative feature films that were were described as “socially relevant and high-concept” and meant to attract millennials and Gen Z. My Fake Boyfriend is the second project announced under that deal, with the first being esports gamer comedy 1Up starring Ruby Rose and Hari Nef.

“There is no better person to tell this queer love story than Rose Troche, and we’re delighted to partner with Lionsgate to share this story with millennial and Gen Z audiences around the world,” said Reid. Lauren Bixby, vp of co-productions and acquisitions at Lionsgate added, “My Fake Boyfriend has the heart, laughs, and talent behind the scenes and in front of the camera that make this film a genuine win. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with our friends at BuzzFeed on this fun romantic comedy.”

My Fake Boyfriend is set to begin production this month in Canada, with BuzzFeed and Lionsgate expecting to release the film timed to Pride in June 2022.

Lonsdale is repped by ICM Partners and Schreck Rose. Sprouse is repped by UTA, Authentic, and Greenberg Traurig. Hyland is repped by WME, RKM, and Gang Tyre.

Source: THR