Netflix's 'Better Than the Movies' Rounds Out Its Cast as Cameras Roll in Chicago
Netflix has added eight new faces to its film adaptation of Lynn Painter's bestselling YA novel Better Than the Movies, and production is already underway in Chicago as of September 2026. The casting news, broken exclusively by Deadline, fills out the ensemble around leads Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono, who were announced in July.
The eight newcomers span a wide range of roles. Deacon Phillippe, known for Prime Video's Motorheads and Netflix's Never Have I Ever, plays Michael Young. Nicole Bruner (High Potential, The Bold and the Beautiful) takes on Jocelyn. Luke Kirby, fresh off leading roles in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Étoile, plays Brian Buxbaum. Judy Greer steps in as Helena.
The remaining four cast members and their roles: Claire Coffee as Martha Buxbaum, Ora Duplass as Laney Morgan, Veronica Garrubbo as Alex, and Kynlee Heiman as Young Liz. Kitsos leads as Liz Buxbaum, with Iacono playing her next-door neighbour — the romantic-comedy engine of the story.
The film has been moving quickly through Netflix's development pipeline. Deadline first reported in May 2026 that Julia Hart had been set to direct. Hart, best known for the coming-of-age drama Don't Say Good Luck — which has logged 25.3 million views in its first three weeks on Netflix and sits at 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — also produces alongside Jordan Horowitz through their Original Headquarters banner. Shauna Phelan and Melanie Krauss round out the producing team. The screenplay is credited to Heather Flanders and the writing duo of Hart and Horowitz.
The source material brings serious built-in audience. Better Than the Movies, published by Simon & Schuster in 2021, is a #1 New York Times bestseller that has spent 44 consecutive months on the Times monthly YA paperback list and 20 weeks on its weekly YA hardcover list. Netflix's own Tudum platform confirmed the adaptation in August, describing it as a rom-com and publishing a feature on co-star Kitsos as part of its summer YA showcase.
For fans of the book, the cast shaping up offers a clear signal of tone. Phillippe and Kitsos anchor the younger characters, while veterans like Kirby and Greer — familiar faces to anyone who has watched prestige television in the past decade — bring weight to the adult roles around them. Hart's track record with character-driven, coming-of-age storytelling on Netflix gives the project a natural fit between director and material.
Filming is scheduled around a September 3 start date in Chicago, according to What's on Netflix. No release date has been announced.
