When Gordon Bressack wrote a play called Fuggedaboudit!, he likely didn’t expect it to come to life in this way.

Bressack died in 2019 after a long health battle, and is remembrered for sharing three Emmys with his colleagues on the 1990s animated staples Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.

Now, seven years after his death, Bressack’s son, filmmaker James Cullen Bressack is dusting off Fuggedaboudit! to turn it into a feature film, with a twist. The roles will be played by puppets. Human actors played the roles in the 2009 stage production at the Hudson Backstage Theater in Los Angeles.

Per the logline, “After a car accident wipes his memory clean, a serially romantic New York model is confronted by an ex-fiancée, an ex-girlfriend, a mobster and a circle of brutally honest friends, all competing to rewrite his past before he figures out who he really was.”

The film is currently casting up.

“My father always dreamed of making live-action films, so there was something incredibly poetic about bringing one of his stories to life through puppets. Puppetry exists somewhere between live action and animation, and it felt like the perfect medium to tell this story,” James Cullen Bressack said in a statement.

The younger Bressack recently wrapped production on a horror movie shot entirely on VHS, and has an ecclectic filmography that also includes action movies starring actors such has Jean Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis.

“The puppets aren’t the joke. They’re the device that tells the story,” he continued in his statement. “They’re the conduit for my father’s comedy, allowing us to embrace the heightened absurdity and heart that made his writing so special. When I reread Fuggedaboudit!, I realized the most honest way to adapt it wasn’t to imitate reality. It was to create a world where audiences could simply accept the characters for who they are and let the comedy shine.”

Bent Wrist Productions, Jackie Smook Company, and Sandaled Kid Productions are behidn the project. James Cullen Bressack produces with Jackie Smook and Dani Abraham. BJ Hendricks and James Rundquist executive produce.

Gordon Bressack grew up on the east coast and in his later years enjoyed writing plays, several of which were staged in Los Angeles. Before his death, he teamed with his son on the 2017 animated feature CarGo, while the younger Bressack has already adapted one of his father’s works, the 2023 meta horror movie Murder, Anyone?

Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory will give global audiences a chance to grab a ticket for the forthcoming animated feature.

Netflix announced Wednesday that the film will have a wide theatrical release globally on Nov. 5, 2027, before hitting the streaming platform on Dec. 22, 2027, just in time for the holidays. Jared Stern and Elaine Bogan direct the movie that sees Kit Connor and Taika Waititi leading its voice cast.

Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory centers on Willy Wonka (Waititi) aiming to start a new life after his release from prison, just as Charlie (Connor) and other teens whose families face eviction are set to burglarize Wonka’s factory.

This news follows Netflix’s other arrangements with exhibitors, including Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew getting released in Imax and wide global theaters Feb. 12, 2027, before hitting Netflix April 2, 2027, while the Brad Pitt-led follow-up to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood landed a two-week exclusive Imax run this November. Additionally, Netflix’s theatrical moves in 2025 included a sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters and a two-day release for Stranger Things: The Finale.

Joining the voice cast for Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory are Kate Winslet (The Reader), Helena Bonham Carter (One Life), Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton), Charithra Chandran (Bridgerton), Samson Kayo (F1: The Movie) and Christopher Chung (Slow Horses).

Aron Warner and Timothy Yoo serve as producers for Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, which sees Sony Pictures Entertainment handle international theatrical distribution. Waititi executive produces the movie that continues the universe that began with Roald Dahl‘s 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee wants Paramount CEO to sit for a transcribed interview to answer questions on its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

The letter from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is just the latest that Democrats have sent to Ellison, as they amplify their criticisms and opposition to the transaction. In the letter, Raskin cited changes Ellison has made to CBS News and potential changes if Paramount gains control of CNN, accusing the CEO of “colluding with President Trump and his administration to curtail media independence.” The letter referred to a Wall Street Journal report from December, citing unnamed sources, that Ellison offered “assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN.”

Raskin also raised antitrust concerns, while noting the ongoing lawsuit brought by a dozen state attorneys general.

Ellison last week published an op ed in The New York Times defending the proposed merger and claiming that the opposition is fueled by concerns over what will happen to CNN.

Raskin wrote in the letter, “Last week, in a New York Times op-ed, you pledged to tell your story and stay silent ‘no more.’ This is great news. Over the past 12 months, I have sent you four letters. You have responded to none of them. Now that you have vowed to break your long silence, I invite you to a transcribed interview to tell Congress and America your story and answer the Committee’s questions about your Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels, and streaming services.”

He gave Ellison until August 26 to schedule an interview.

As the minority party, Democrats cannot compel Ellison to testify. But Raskin and others have suggested that Paramount and other mergers would be under scrutiny should the party regain control of one or more houses of Congress.

A Paramount spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. CNN first reported on Raskin’s letter.

In his op ed, Ellison wrote that news organizations require independence, while he said that CNN and CBS News, which Paramount already owns, “are here to tell it straight down the middle.”

At a Politico event on Tuesday, Paramount’s chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said, “You can allege all you want. There is no corruption here.” He said that they would be “happy to engage with” Raskin and “provide him, as we have, with information.”

“We respect his role and his important role in oversight,” Delrahim said. “But just because he said so doesn’t mean that there’s any corruption.”

The Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee held a hearing in February on Netflix’s plans to merge with WBD, with co-CEO Ted Sarandos appearing before lawmakers, weeks before the streamer dropped its bid amid Paramount’s counteroffer. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that he invited Ellison to participate in that hearing, but he declined.