Millie Bobby Brown and Gabriel LaBelle are set to fall in love — with a little help from the future. The two stars will headline Just Picture It, a romantic comedy heading to Netflix that blends campus crushes with a fantasy/sci-fi twist.
The film follows two carefree college students who are complete strangers — until their phones mysteriously glitch and begin showing them photos of themselves ten years down the line. The kicker? In the future, they’re married with kids. In the present, they’ve never even met.
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As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Just Picture It will be directed by Lee Toland Krieger (The Age of Adaline, You) and written by Jesse Lasky, making his feature debut. Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum are producing, alongside Brown and her father Robert Brown for PCMA Productions. Executive producers include Alyssa Altman (R/K Films), Jake Bongiovi, Isobel Roberts, and David Kern.
The film marks Brown’s first official rom-com, and she’s been attached to the project from its earliest stages. It also continues a busy run of Netflix projects for the Stranger Things star. Brown starred in this year’s The Electric State, opposite Chris Pratt, and led last year’s fantasy adventure Damsel, which is now ranked as the ninth most-watched English-language film in the streamer’s history. She also recently wrapped production on Enola Holmes 3, reprising her role as the spirited teen detective while continuing her behind-the-scenes role as executive producer. And of course, there’s the fifth and final season of Stranger Things — split into three event-style releases — beginning its farewell rollout this November.
LaBelle, meanwhile, rose to fame as the young Steven Spielberg in The Fabelmans, and more recently portrayed Lorne Michaels in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, a dramatisation of the birth of Saturday Night Live. This film gives him a chance to take on a leading-man rom-com role, adding to an increasingly strong résumé.
The concept alone gives Just Picture It a chance to stand out from the usual rom-com fare, especially with its time-twisting angle and unconventional setup. It’s also a genre pivot for Brown at a time when her recent Netflix track record could use a bit of a bounce back — the ultra-expensive The Electric State didn’t exactly land with viewers or critics earlier this year. Whether this becomes a streaming hit or just a charming curiosity will depend on the execution, but with a fresh pairing and a hook built for online discussion, it’s certainly one to keep an eye on.
