The son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe is expanding his acting resume after landing a role in a new book for film adaptation.
Netflix announced its “Better Than the Movies alert” on social media on Thursday, revealing: “Deacon Phillippe, Nicole Bruner, Luke Kirby, Judy Greer, Claire Coffee, Ora Duplass, Veronica Garrubbo and Kynlee Heiman will join Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono in the new film based on Lynn Painter’s bestselling novel.”
Phillippe, 22, also shared a message from the streaming giant on his Instagram Stories, calling his castmates “gang” and telling his followers in a separate post that he was “extremely grateful.”
The nepo baby made his acting debut in 2022’s Never Have I Ever before appearing in the 2025 Prime Video series Motorheads.
He will star in 4 Kids Walk Into a Bar in 2027.
Deacon Phillippe will play Michael Young in Better Than the Movies, the adaptation of Lynn Painter’s #1 New York Times bestseller, published in 2021
The son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe has mainly focused on a music career in production and songwriting
Nicole Bruner (High Potential), Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Judy Greer (In Memoriam), Claire Coffee (FBI), Ora Duplass (Their Town), Veronica Garrubbo (Love Language) and Kynlee Heiman (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) also starred.
Phillippe stars as Michael Young in the 2021 adaptation of Lynn Painter’s #1 New York Times bestseller published by Simon & Schuster.
Production on the Julia Hart-helmed project began Thursday in Chicago. Term According to reports, more newcomers to the project were announced on the same day.
The lead roles of Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono were announced in July.
According to Deadline, Better Than the Movies centers on Liz Buxbaum (Kitsos), “whose obsession with rom-com films proves very useful as she schemes with her annoying but adorable neighbor (Iacono) to get the attention of her untouchable crush.”
The casting means Phillippe, who graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in May, could draw even more comparisons to his actor father Ryan.
Ryan’s lookalike son is primarily focused on a music career in production and songwriting, but occasionally delves into modeling and acting.
In September 2021, the I Know What You Did Last Summer star modestly spoke about what his son looks like in an interview with E! News.
Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono will star in the Netflix film, which was announced in July
The nepo baby made his acting debut in 2022’s Never Have I Ever before appearing in the 2025 Prime Video series Motorheads
“Obviously there’s a father-son resemblance, but he actually looks a lot more like Reese’s side of the family. Ava looks more like mine,” he told the outlet, adding that Deacon is “much better looking than me.”
Phillippe and Witherspoon married in 1999 and were the “It” couple from the early 2000s until their eventual divorce in 2006. Their divorce was finalized a year later.
The actor blamed the divorce mainly on their young age when they married, telling W Magazine that the divorce was the “darkest, saddest place” he had ever known.
Witherspoon, who on August 8 wrapped up filming the fifth and final season of The Morning Show, which was set to air in 2027, described their separation as “humiliating and very isolating,” according to Page Six.
However, the exes remained friendly throughout their post-divorce and co-parenting years, and are still friendly today.
Witherspoon has been quietly dating Searchlight Capital founder Oliver Haarmann since 2024.
The actress is said to be relieved that her boyfriend is not a fellow celebrity.
“She likes the fact that he’s out of the entertainment world,” a source told People. “He is very driven in his own career and that really works for Reese, who likes to be busy and focused. They have a lot of fun together and things are going very well between them.’
