Unfrosted, a movie about the race to create a game-changing breakfast pastry, such as, say, the Pop-Tart, debuts on Netflix May 3. Jerry Seinfeld directs, his first time directing a film. Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer and Christian Slater are in the cast, as is Seinfeld himself.
The movie is set in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1963. Cereal rivals Post and Kellogg’s are racing to come up with the best breakfast pastry ever. Post comes up with Country Squares, and Kellogg’s comes up with the Pop-Tart. Netflix calls it “a wildly imaginative tale of ambition, betrayal, and menacing milkmen – sweetened with artificial ingredients.”
Spike Feresten and Beau Bauman produce the film with Seinfeld.
Seinfeld discussed how the movie came to be in its press materials. “The script came about because Spike Feresten and I, as a joke, would say to each other, ‘Let’s make a movie about Pop-Tarts.’ I had been talking about them in my stand-up comedy, and we just used to joke about how it should be a movie, which seemed so ridiculous,” he said. “It was just a joke. And then when the pandemic happened and we had nothing to do, Spike said, “Let’s really write this as a movie.”
Also in the cast are Max Greenfield, Bill Burr, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer and Bobby Moynihan.
Seinfeld shared his Pop-Tarts memories from childhood. “My first memory of Pop-Tarts is that once I tasted them, I assumed they would not continue to make other types of food, that it would no longer be necessary to eat anything else,” he said.
Pop-Tarts and their parent Kellanova have nothing to do with the film, but the corporation did weigh in on it. “Unfrosted is the ultimate flattery, and the biggest fanfiction ever," said Heidi Ray, senior director of brand marketing, Pop-Tarts. "At every level of fandom, Pop-Tarts continues to spark creativity – from the user-generated Edible Mascot memes at the Pop-Tarts Bowl to a homemade recipe from arguably the world's biggest pop star, and now to Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted film. We've been at the heart of culture for 60 years, and look forward to inspiring it for many, many more."
