Juno Temple to Lead Ensemble Rom-Com 'Intimacy Party', Courtney Hoffman's Feature Directing Debut
Juno Temple will headline Intimacy Party, an ensemble romantic comedy now filming in Los Angeles under a California tax incentive, Deadline reported on 19 August 2026.
The film follows Cleo Kauffman, a woman who tries to rescue her relationship by recreating the intimacy party where she first met her fiancé — only to realise she fell for the wrong guest. The screenplay is credited to Courtney Hoffman and Paul Kruse, with Hoffman drawing on personal experience for the story.
Intimacy Party also marks Hoffman's first time directing a feature. She previously directed episodes of American Horror Stories and the Western short The Good Time Girls, which starred Laura Dern. Her next film after this one is The Sisters of Scott County, a feature led by Kaitlyn Dever. Before stepping behind the camera, Hoffman built her career in costume design, with credits on Edgar Wright's Baby Driver and Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight — a résumé that gives her an unusually hands-on understanding of how a frame is built.
Temple brings her own wattage. She is a four-time Emmy nominee, earning three of those nominations for playing Keeley Jones on Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso. Her presence gives the project a familiar face for streaming audiences and prestige-TV viewers alike.
The ensemble around her is packed with recognisable names. Richa Moorjani (Never Have I Ever), Meredith Hagner (Search Party), Michiel Huisman (The Flight Attendant), Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians), Brandon Kyle Goodman, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Patrick Renna round out the cast.
Behind the camera, the producing team is led by Delirio Films' Christopher Leggett and Rafael Marmor, alongside Jesse Schiller and Courtney Hoffman herself. Amanda Massetti and Bri Hennessey of Pasta & Tacos Productions serve as executive producers.
What stands out here is the trajectory. A costume designer turning first-time feature director is not unheard of, but the jump from dressing actors for Tarantino and Wright to writing and directing your own ensemble comedy — one rooted in lived experience — is the kind of pivot that catches attention. For Temple, it is a lead role in a genre that rewards chemistry and timing, surrounded by a cast built for exactly that.
