Remstar Studios, the production and financing division of Montreal-based Remstar Group, hopes its found an ideal first project.

Ideal Home, the first feature produced by the Montreal- and L.A.-based division, stars Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) and Steve Coogan (Philomena) as a married couple whose lives are interrupted when Coogan’s grandson turns up at their home.

Launched in April of last year, Remstar Studios head Clark Peterson says the company has taken its time choosing a project that it feels will help it break through in a crowded marketplace.

“We’ve seen a lot of financing companies come and go because they make a lot of movies but if the movies aren’t out-performing, it’s hard to stay in business,” Peterson said in an interview with Playback Daily. “We looked at over 200 projects over the last year to really find the right project to first produce.”

Peterson, who has produced films like Monster and Rampart, hopes the comedy, and its stars, will not only entertain, but get people talking – something that is at the top of the new company’s “very long checklist” for selecting projects.

“There’s so much happening in the marketplace on so many different platforms. Television is amazing, digital content is amazing. More than ever we have to cut through the noise,” he said. “With every project that we’re getting involved in, we’re making sure that there are things to talk about. In the case of Ideal Home, it’s hilarious and it’s got these two wonderful actors playing a married couple, so it’s very entertaining but at the same time…it’s very much of today.”

Next on that checklist: films that have universal appeal.

“We are a Quebec-based company, but we really want to expand beyond the Quebec market,” he said. “[We’re] trying to create things through Quebec that are borderless, or that would play around the world.”

Ideal Home, which is currently shooting in New Mexico and is written and directed by Andrew Fleming (The Craft, Hamlet 2), has a budget of less than $10 million. It was co-financed by Remstar Studios’ fund, Remstar Capital Partners LP, a partnership between Remstar Group and the Quebec Culture Capital Fund, and the Montreal-headquartered National Bank of Canada.

The National Bank of Canada’s Lisa Wolofsky serves as executive producer. Peterson and Remstar Group president and CEO Maxime Rémillard serve as producers, alongside Maria Teresa Arida, Aaron Ryder and Gabrielle Tana.

Remstar Films has acquired the Canadian distribution rights to Ideal Home.

Image: Helga Estreb/Shutterstock