Jerry Seinfeld Is Actually Making a Movie About Pop-Tarts
A joke from an old standup set is getting the Netflix treatment.
Maybe you’ve heard the joke: Jerry Seinfeld is standing on the Late Night with David Letterman stage, gesturing as he does, detailing his first response to the existence of Pop-Tarts. “It was a moment in time!” he exclaimed. “When they invented the Pop-Tart, the back of my head blew right off.”
The joke went on to be a comedy touchstone, and years later, he was still talking about piecing the bit together with The New York Times and even included it in his 2020 Netflix stand-up special 23 Hours to Kill. And now, it looks like his long-running joke is being taken a step further. Seinfeld is getting ready to start production on Unfrosted, a movie for Netflix about the origin of Pop-Tarts.
First announced in 2021, the initial details were sparse. The biggest takeaway was that the writers from 2007's The Bee Movie—Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, and Barry Marder—would be on board. Now that it's confirmed, the movie itself is not one elaborate prank; some more information is slowly trickling out.
First, we now know that Seinfeld is starring in, producing, directing, and co-writing the movie. The second bit of information comes from the state of California itself. The California Film Commission announced that Unfrosted would be one of 30 films that would be receiving some hefty tax credits for filming in the state. According to Variety, the film will receive about $14.2 million dollars in tax credits. That’s a lot of Pop-Tart money.
Seinfeld said that he's happy to receive the tax credit, which will ensure the entire movie is filmed in California. "Having made all of the Seinfeld series in LA, I very much wanted to come back and shoot there again," Seinfeld said in a statement. "On behalf of everyone working on the movie, we really appreciate the great welcome."
Unfrosted is part of a $100 million deal that Seinfeld made with Netflix back in 2017. At the time, the streaming service acquired all nine seasons of Seinfeld's hang-out show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee from Crackle, and ordered a 10th season. The original deal also included two comedy specials, and eventually the rights to Seinfeld, which began streaming on Netflix in fall 2021.
The film will begin shooting in May, but an official release date has not been shared yet.
Opheli Garcia Lawler is a staff writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.