Entertainment Weekly has our first look at the ensemble cast of This Is Where I Leave You, lead by Jason Bateman and Tina Fey. Directed by Shawn Levy and based on the 2009 bestseller of the same name from author Jonathan Tropper, the story follows a Jewish family forced to reunite for their father's funeral.

Take a look at the photo along with the cast and character breakdown (from left to right):


 
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  • Charles "Boner" Grodner (Ben Schwartz): The family's too-cool-for-schul rabbi with the inappropriate childhood nickname.
  • Tracy (Connie Britton): Therapist turned girlfriend of Phillip, a smart woman who has foolishly convinced herself he's just as serious about her.
  • Penny (Rose Byrne): Long-ago, hometown crush for Judd, who still harbors high-school level adoration from him.
  • Linda (Debra Monk): The Altman's neighbor, mother of Horry, and Hillary's best friend and confidant. Maybe more.
  • Phillip (Adam Driver): The out-of-control youngest child, spoiled but charismatic. He'd like a cut of the family sporting goods business, despite no experience.
  • Horry (Timothy Olyphant): Neighbor and teenage boyfriend of Wendy, who suffered a brain injury when they were dating and now lives at home with mom Linda.
  • Alice (Kathryn Hahn): She briefly dated Judd when they were young, but later met and married his big brother Paul. She desperately wants a baby.
  • Paul (Corey Stoll): The steady, surly oldest son, and the only Altman who stayed behind to help his father run the family sporting goods business.
  • Wendy (Tina Fey): A married mother of two, still heartbroken over Horry, the damaged boy she left behind. Her life is lush, but loveless.
  • Hilary (Jane Fonda): A psychologist who wrote a bestselling parenting book about her troubled brood, her overt sexuality is a constant embarrassment.
  • Barry (Aaron Lazar): Wendy's aloof but wealthy husband, who spends the funeral on his phone closing a deal with work.
  • Judd (Jason Bateman): The middle son, already a disappointment, whose life is spiraling after his wife left him for his boss, then announced she was pregnant.
  • Shawn Levy: The director of the movie, best known for Real Steel, and the Night at the Museum films. With the father of the Altman clan deceased, he's filling in as the Pater Familias.

This Is Where I Leave You is a bittersweet comedy that finds a group of troubled siblings regrouping to say goodbye to their father at his funeral. About the movie, Tina Fey says:

"We need a new term for the tone. It's not a dark comedy, because it's not that dark. But it's an emotional comedy."

Shawn Levy, known for the hugely popular Night at the Museum franchise, saw the comedy as a passion project that allowed him to explore new territory on screen.

" Jason, Tina, me, we've done a lot of comedies, but we're playing this a lot more naturalistically. Almost every day, someone from the crew says, 'Jesus, that scene freaked me out. It's exactly like me and my brother.' Or 'That's what I went through when my dad died' or '...when my wife and I got separated.'"

There are not too many differences from the bestselling novel, except with one notable change. The family's name had to become the Altmans, because there was a legal clearance issue with using the Foxmans. Jonathan Tropper, who wrote the screenplay based on his own book, revealed that the characters began to shift from page to screen.

"With actors like this, who have very strong voices, you definitely find yourself in the last few drafts of the screenplay channeling them."