Jane Curtin has joined the cast of Little Five, the upcoming period drama from Anne Hathaway’s production company Somewhere Pictures and Indiana-based Pigasus Pictures. The original Saturday Night Live cast member rounds out an ensemble that already includes David Oyelowo, Ariana Greenblatt and Rain Spencer.
Curtin will play Dean Weston, described as a formidable academic leader at Indiana University who serves as both a crucial mentor and a foil to the young team of female cyclists at the centre of the story as they push to break into the university’s male-dominated sports culture.
Production on the film is already underway in Bloomington, Indiana, where the local community has turned out in large numbers to serve as extras in several of the film’s biggest and most pivotal scenes. The production is recreating the look of 1980s Bloomington for the shoot.
Set against the backdrop of Indiana University in the early 1980s, Little Five draws inspiration from the real-life Little 500 bicycle race. The film follows four unlikely young women who come together to chase a shared, seemingly impossible dream, competing for a place in one of Indiana University’s most beloved sporting traditions.
Along with Curtin, the film stars David Oyelowo as Randall, a former cycling champion turned reluctant mentor, Ariana Greenblatt and Rain Spencer. The additional cast includes Sasha Frolova, Nadia Alexander, Drew Powell and Max Cortezi.
Oyelowo is best known for his acclaimed portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma and for starring in the Paramount+ series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. In Little Five, he plays Randall, a former cycling champion who is drawn back into the sport as a reluctant mentor to the film’s young team. Greenblatt, known for playing Sasha in Barbie, and Spencer, who currently stars in The Summer I Turned Pretty, round out the film’s central cast.
Little Five is directed by Ian Samuels, known for The Map of Tiny Perfect Things and Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, from a screenplay written by Gillian Williams and longtime Pigasus Pictures collaborator Paul Shoulberg.
Somewhere Pictures officially began operating in May 2024 with the release of Hathaway’s film The Idea of You and has continued building out its slate since. Pigasus Pictures, its partner on the project, is an Indiana-based independent production company founded by Indiana University alumni John Armstrong and Zachary Spicer. The company was created specifically to bring filmmaking opportunities to Indiana residents. Its most recent release before Little Five was The Duel, starring Dylan Sprouse and Callan McAuliffe, which was released in July 2024.
Curtin was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live when the series launched in 1975. She helped anchor the show’s “Weekend Update” segment and originated memorable characters including Prymaat Conehead and Emily Litella. She later won back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Allie Lowell in Kate & Allie and starred as Dr. Mary Albright on 3rd Rock from the Sun.
In 2017, Curtin was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame alongside her fellow original SNL cast members. Her film credits include reprising her SNL character Prymaat Conehead in 1993’s Coneheads, along with a recurring role as Charlene across The Librarian film series. More recently, Curtin appeared in Netflix’s political comedy series The Residence and Marc Turtletaub’s 2023 film Jules.
With production already underway and a growing cast that now spans multiple generations of comedic and dramatic talent, Little Five continues to build momentum as one of Somewhere Pictures’ community-rooted projects. The film brings a lesser-known piece of collegiate sports history to the screen with the backing of the community where the story is rooted.
Read More:
