Ben Stiller, Nicholas Galitzine and Bella Maclean are set to star in A Matter of Time, a Netflix film from director Harry Bradbeer that was announced Wednesday during the streamer’s upfront presentation in New York. The project brings together a cast that spans comedy, period drama and teen television, with Maclean emerging as one of the newer names on the lineup.
In the film, an unlikely angel is sent from heaven to persuade a reclusive man to give up his life for the greater good. He agrees, and what follows is a chain reaction: his impending death gives him a new lease on life and sparks a romance that could alter the course of history. The script was written by Justin Haythe, Madeleine George, Peter Byrne and Simon Beaufoy.
The casting news matters because A Matter of Time sits inside the wider Netflix and Sony Pictures partnership, under which Sony gives Netflix a first look at films it plans to make for streaming. That arrangement has made the project part of a pipeline built to move studio titles quickly from development into the streaming marketplace.
There is also the matter of who is behind the camera and on the producing side. Bradbeer is directing, while Debra Hayward and Larry Mark are producing and Michael Dreyer is executive producing. Sony is producing the film, placing the project squarely inside the collaboration that continues to shape Netflix’s film slate.
For Maclean, the role adds another high-profile credit after Sex Education and Rivals, and puts her in a film anchored by two well-known leads. The announcement did not include a release date, but Wednesday’s reveal made one thing clear: Netflix and Sony are still using their partnership to package recognizable talent around projects with built-in commercial appeal.
