Jerry Seinfeld to Direct, Star In Pop-Tart Movie ‘Unfrosted’ at Netflix

By Fletcher Peters @fIetcherpeters
Published June 23, 2021, 4:54 p.m. ET

More On:

Jerry Seinfeld

Although Jerry Seinfeld‘s reign over comedy television may have ended with the end of Seinfeld, he’s still got some pop-culture ideas swirling in his mind. More specifically, in his kitchen. The comic legend will write, produce, and direct Unfrosted, a movie he co-wrote with Spike Feresten and Barry Marder based on a stand-up bit about Pop-Tarts. Thanks to the streamer’s relationship with the comedian, Netflix has won the project for its film slate after a bidding war.

Unfrosted, which is set to begin production next spring, is inspired by a joke he told on the stand-up stage about the world-altering invention of the Pop-Tart. Seinfeld explained the bit, which has modest pandemic-related origins.

“Stuck at home watching endless sad faces on TV I thought this would be a good time to make something based on pure silliness,” he said, per Deadline. “So we took my Pop-Tart stand-up bit from my last Netflix special and exploded it into a giant, crazy comedy movie.”

Seinfeld explained the Pop-Tart joke in a video segment for the New York Times, recounting the moment when, as a child, his world was forever changed by the breakfast snack. “How did they know that there would be a need for a frosted fruit-filled heated rectangle in the same shape as the box it comes in, and with the same nutrition as the box it comes in?” Seinfeld jokes.

An auction has been quietly playing out for a few days, per Deadline‘s reporting, and Seinfeld’s established relationship with Netflix’s co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was crucial in swinging the deal to the streamer. Seinfeld signed a deal with Netflix in 2017 that brought his interview series, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, to Netflix alongside his two stand-up specials, Jerry Before Seinfeld and 23 Hours to Kill. Netflix also made a global deal to stream his sitcom Seinfeld for five years, which is set to begin later this year.

Seinfeld’s ventures into film have been fairly limited thus far. He co-wrote, produced, and voiced the lead role in the 2007 DreamWorks animation film Bee Movie, and he also executive produced and performed in the 2002 documentary Comedian.