Aziz Ansari's directorial debut comedy drama to star Bill Murray

Aziz Ansari is set to make his directorial debut with a comedy drama. The film will have him playing the lead alongside Bill Murray.

The project is being adapted from the 2014 non-fiction book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Ansari has written the script and will also produce the film along with Youree Henley, Taylor Friedman, and Cameron Chidsey for Searchlight Pictures.

The book written by Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, is about aging, patients' anxieties regarding death and doctor's tendencies to fall back on false hope. The yet-to-be titled film will see a theatrical release in 2023.

Ansari has earlier won two Emmy Awards for outstanding writing for a comedy for Master of None. He also made his maiden directorial on the Netflix show, helming 11 episodes over the course of three seasons, earning an Emmy nomination for directing. He also directed Nightclub Comedian, which will be streaming on Netflix later this year.