Pamela Anderson & Debbie Harry Are Mother & Daughter in New Comedy

Pamela Anderson and Debbie Harry are about to become family. The two icons have signed on to star together in Maitreya, a new age comedy that will cast Anderson as the title character — a rising star in the wellness world — and Harry as her mother. It’s the kind of pairing that sounds almost too perfect on paper, and yet here we are.

The film follows Maitreya, a sought-after figure in the New Age healing community who’s about to fly to India for a major conference when she gets a call from her estranged sister Monica: their father is dying. Instead of staying home, Maitreya does what any self-styled healer would do — she rounds up the entire family, including her mother Barbara (Harry), and brings them all to India with her. The idea is to put her healing theories to the test on the people who probably need it most. The fact that she’s quietly gathering material for her next book is, of course, purely incidental.

It’s a sharp, funny premise, and the creative team behind it has serious credentials. Emmy-nominated director Jonathan Krisel — best known for Portlandia, Baskets, and Kroll Show, with additional credits on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and English Teacher — will direct. The script comes from BAFTA-nominated writer Samuel D. Hunter, who wrote the film adaptation of The Whale and also collaborated with Krisel on Baskets. This will be Krisel’s first feature film.

Production company Caviar, which previously backed Sound of Metal, is producing. Nadine de Barros’ Fortitude International is handling international sales, which are being launched at Cannes this week. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are on board for North America. Shooting is scheduled to begin at the end of 2026.

Producer Michael Sagol, Managing Director at Caviar, is clearly thrilled about the whole thing. “Being a part of bringing Maitreya to life with Jon and Sam has been so much fun already,” he said. “After working together in the branded world for the past decade, now having the chance to produce Jon’s first feature film — a soulful exploration of a dysfunctional family, perfectly suited to his absurdist and distinctive comedic voice — makes us giddy with excitement.”

Pamela Anderson’s Slate Just Keeps Growing

For Anderson, 58, Maitreya is the latest addition to a career resurgence that has been genuinely remarkable to watch. After earning SAG and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl — which premiered at Cannes last year — she’s been moving fast. Her upcoming slate already includes Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning alongside Riley Keough, Elle Fanning, Callum Turner, and Jamie Bell; Somedays opposite Billy Bob Thornton; Kornél Mundruczó’s Place to Be with Taika Waititi; and Michael Cera’s directorial debut alongside Steve Coogan and Jamie Dornan.

She’s also been filming Queen of the Falls, a crime-tinged road trip romance opposite Guy Pearce in which she plays a roadkill cleaner and he plays a fugitive, the two of them racing toward Niagara Falls in what’s been described as a music-driven, high-voltage love story. Anderson previously told Variety about that one: “Guy is someone I can’t wait to work with. He is a brilliant actor and has taken this on with full force. We are in this together. It’s been a long road, and will be a delicate continuous journey with dedicated preparation to blend the musical aspects in amongst this wild and challenging love-on-the-run style, raw and whimsical story.”

And now she gets to do all of that while Debbie Harry plays her mom.

Harry, 80, is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as the frontwoman of Blondie, but she’s no stranger to the screen either — her film credits include David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and John Waters’ Hairspray. Watching her bring a deadpan maternal energy to Anderson’s crystal-selling, conference-hopping wellness guru feels like it could be something genuinely special.

Filming starts at the end of the year. The wait is going to be a long one.