Tina Fey’s Untitled ‘Taliban Shuffle’ Comedy Set For 2016 Release
While most movies have scrambled to get the hell away fromStar Wars: The Force Awakens,Tina Fey’s new comedySistersplanted a flag on July 18, 2025 last year and hasn’t budged. “We said we’d only do the movie if it opened againstStar Wars,“joked Fey’s co-starAmy Poehler. “We are going to f***ing crushStar Wars.”
And while that prediction seems, uh, pretty far-fetched, Fey apparently isn’t intimidated by Disney’s other upcoming offerings, either. She’ll face off against the studio again in March, as her upcoming Afghanistan War comedy (formerly titledTaliban Shuffle) has just staked out a release against Disney’sZootopia.
Paramount has announced that the untitled comedy starring Fey will open onMarch 4, 2016, against Disney’s animated adventureZootopia, theOlympus Has FallensequelLondon Has Fallen, and (presumably in limited release) Terrence Malick’sKnight of Cups.
John RequaandGlenn Ficarra(Crazy, Stupid, Love.,Focus) directed Fey’s new movie based onKim Barker’s memoirThe Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fey plays Barker, a foreign correspondent who arrives in Kabul in 2002.Margot Robbie,Billy Bob Thornton,Martin Freeman,Josh Charles,Christopher Abbott, andAlfred Molinaalso star.
Here’s a description of Barker’s book:
Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. InThe Taliban Shuffle,Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job.
When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren’t allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping as the Afghan and Pakistani governments flounder. Barker watches Afghan police recruits make a travesty of practice drills and observes the disorienting turnover of diplomatic staff. She is pursued romantically by the former prime minister of Pakistan and sees adrenaline-fueled colleagues disappear into the clutches of the Taliban. And as her love for these hapless countries grows, her hopes for their stability and security fade.
Fey has kept very busy since her TV series30 Rockended in 2013. She’s starred inAdmission,Muppets Most Wanted, andThis Is Where I Leave You; she’s created and produced the delightful Netflix seriesUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; she’s hosted the Golden Globes three times with her BFF and formerSaturday Night Liveco-star Poehler.
Next month’sSistersstars Fey and Poehler as (you guessed it) sisters, who decide to throw one last rager before their parents sell their childhood home. Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) directs from a script by Paula Pell (Saturday Night Live,30 Rock). It probably — okay, definitely — won’t do anything likeForce Awakensnumbers at the box office, but could be a helpful bit of counter-programming for people who aren’t interested in aliens, robots, or alien robots, but are also over the age of 5 and therefore not interested insinging chipmunks.
The film formerly known asTaliban Shuffledoesn’t have a trailer as of yet, but in the meantime here’s aSisterstrailer to give you your daily recommended dose of Tina Fey.
