First Look: ‘Happiness for Beginners’ with Luke Grimes and Ellie Kemper

Happiness for Beginners Luke Grimes and Ellie Kemper

Netflix has released the first official photos from the upcoming film adaptation of Katherine Center’s bestselling novel Happiness for Beginners. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Ellie Kemper and Yellowstone‘s Luke Grimes star in the comedy premiering on July 27, 2023.

Kemper and Grimes are joined by Nico Santos, Blythe Danner, and Benjamin Cook. Shayvawn Webster, Esteban Benito, and Julia Shiplett also star.

Describing her attraction to the project, Kemper told Netflix’s Tudum she believed it “was such a well-told story of one woman’s experience in getting to know herself better.” Kemper added, “I was immediately excited about the prospect of playing a woman whose outlook on life, when we first meet her, isn’t so sunny. I’ve played a lot of optimistic rubes, and Helen was neither.”

Vicky Wight adapted Center’s book and directs. Wight also serves as a producer along with Geoff Linville and Berry Meyerowitz. Author Katherine Center, Jeff Sackman, and Larry Greenberg executive produce.

Happiness for Beginners marks Wight’s second adaptation of a Center novel. She also wrote and directed The Lost Husband, based on Center’s 2013 novel, starring Leslie Bibb and Josh Duhamel.

“Katherine is the perfect novelist when it comes to adaptation because she’s hands off,” said Wight in a Tudum interview. “She understands that the novel can’t go word-for-word on-screen, so she’s very supportive about the process of reshaping the story while keeping the integrity of her source material.”

Happiness for Beginners Cast — Esteban Benito as Mason, Ellie Kemper as Helen, Gus Birney as Kaylee and Julia Shiplett as Sue (Photo by Barbara Nitke / NETFLIX)

The Plot, Courtesy of Netflix:

Helen (Kemper) has always lived her life as far from the edge as possible. Finding herself newly divorced and a little lost, Helen decides she needs a reset and signs up for the “Adventure of a Lifetime!” The adventure is a backcountry survival course hiking the Appalachian Trail with a group of oddball strangers.

From the beginning, Helen’s plan to be the best hiker is tested, and she finds more than just herself in the wilderness. Based on the wildly popular novel by Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners reminds us that sometimes you have to get lost before you’re found.