Sports Comedy 'Hot Curlers' Starring June Squibb and Linda Hamilton Sets Dual Shoot in Calgary and New Zealand for Early 2027

A true-story sports comedy with an irresistible premise and a genuinely surprising cast is taking shape for an early 2027 production start across two countries, and working professionals in both Calgary and New Zealand will want to get acquainted with this one now. Hot Curlers, currently in pre-production, follows four curlers from the small South Island town of Naseby, New Zealand as they chase an unlikely path to the Winter Olympics, landing in Calgary with a tight budget and an even tighter living situation inside a retirement community. The film blends underdog sports spirit with fish-out-of-water comedy, and with a cast headlined by June Squibb, Linda Hamilton, Caroline Aaron, and Jayne Eastwood, this is shaping up to be a genuinely crowd-pleasing theatrical feature with real commercial legs.

David White directs from a script he co-wrote with Anna Taylor. White's background is rooted in New Zealand film and television, and his co-writer Taylor brings a grounded, character-driven sensibility to the material that suits this kind of warmly comedic, ensemble-driven story. The cast assembled around the script is worth pausing on. June Squibb, the Academy Award-nominated actress best known for her breakout work in Alexander Payne's Nebraska, has spent recent years demonstrating a remarkable range in comedic and dramatic ensemble work. Linda Hamilton, iconic for the Terminator franchise and a performer who brings instant credibility and audience goodwill to any project, is a genuinely bold piece of casting for a comedy of this scale. Caroline Aaron, a veteran character actress with deep roots in prestige television including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Jayne Eastwood, one of Canada's most beloved and recognizable character performers, round out what promises to be an exceptionally watchable ensemble. George Ferrier is also confirmed in the cast, likely representing the younger generation of Naseby curlers at the story's center.

The production brings together a well-matched international partnership. South Pacific Pictures, the Auckland-based company producing alongside White, is one of New Zealand's most established and prolific production houses, known primarily for long-running television but with feature film experience as well. Calgary's SEVEN24 Films is a significant addition to the team. SEVEN24 has built a strong reputation in Canadian co-productions and is well-connected within Alberta's production infrastructure, making them the ideal local partner for the Calgary portion of the shoot. The New Zealand Film Commission is on board as a key funding partner, which confirms the project's legitimate national film status in New Zealand and signals that a portion of the financing is already structured. On the sales and distribution side, Cornerstone Films launched the project at the Toronto International Film Festival and is handling worldwide sales, a strong indicator that the project has genuine international market traction. Madman Entertainment holds Australian and New Zealand distribution rights, while Mongrel Media has acquired Canadian rights, meaning domestic audiences in two of the three production territories are already accounted for.

For crew, the dual-location shoot is the defining logistical fact of this production. Filming is planned in Naseby, New Zealand and Calgary, Alberta, with a production start date of January 2027. Naseby is a historic gold-mining town in the Maniototo district of Otago, and notably, it is home to one of only two outdoor curling rinks in the Southern Hemisphere, which is almost certainly central to why this true story originated there. Shooting in that region will require coordination with the Otago local crew base and likely some importing of key department heads from Auckland or Christchurch. The Calgary leg brings significant advantages: Alberta's film and television industry has grown substantially over the past decade, supported by the Alberta Film and Television Tax Credit, which offers competitive incentives that make the province an attractive co-production destination. Calgary has a solid and growing local crew base, and SEVEN24's deep roots in the city will be a meaningful resource for local hiring and logistics. For crew in either market, this is a co-production that will be working within defined treaty and tax credit frameworks, which generally means union-level organization and structured deal-making.

A January 2027 start places this production roughly 18 months out at time of reporting, which means the early pre-production hiring pipeline is likely just beginning to open. Department heads across locations, production design, costume, camera, and sound are the roles most likely coming into focus in the near term, along with location scouts and managers who will need to begin serious work in both Naseby and Calgary well in advance of cameras rolling. The genre and setting signal some specific crew needs worth noting: a curling-centric sports comedy will require coordination with sports action units and likely specialty camera work for ice-level coverage. The retirement community setting and period-neutral contemporary story suggest a production design scope that is character-rich rather than spectacle-heavy, favoring a strong eye for lived-in, specific detail over large-scale builds. Costume will have fun with the ensemble. Given the caliber of the cast and the international sales infrastructure already in place, this is shaping up as a mid-to-upper-budget independent feature, not a micro-budget affair.

For crew and production professionals in Calgary and New Zealand who want to pursue this one early, the full listing for Hot Curlers on ProductionList.com carries the most current production contacts, office details, and crew roster as it is filled in. Given the dual-country shoot and the early stage of pre-production, the hiring window is genuinely wide right now. Bookmark the listing and check back regularly as the production moves through pre-production toward its early 2027 start.

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