Courteney Cox has given her ex-husband David Arquette and former Friends guest star Christine Taylor a scene together in her new movie. The two turn up as bank employees in Evil Genius, which Cox directed and produced.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12. EW revealed the surprise appearances after the screening, placing both actors inside the movie’s recreation of the 2003 “pizza bomber” bank robbery.
Patricia Arquette and David Harbour lead the cast as Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Bill Rothstein, while Tom McCarthy plays pizza deliveryman Brian Wells. The film dramatizes the case explored in the 2018 Netflix documentary series Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist.
It is Cox’s second feature as a director, following the 2014 black comedy Just Before I Go. The ensemble also includes Michael Chernus, Garret Dillahunt and Danielle Macdonald.
David Arquette and Christine Taylor Handle the Robbery Note
About halfway through the film, McCarthy’s Wells enters a PNC Bank and approaches Taylor’s teller. David Arquette plays her manager. EW describes the pair trying to make sense of the conflicting instructions in the note Wells has brought with him.
Both performers worked on Friends during its third season. Arquette played Malcolm in “The One With the Jam,” while Taylor appeared as Bonnie, Phoebe’s friend who begins dating Ross. Taylor’s three-episode run continued through the Season 3 finale and into the Season 4 premiere.
Cox and Arquette met while making Scream, in which they played reporter Gale Weathers and Deputy Dewey Riley. Arquette’s appearance on Friends came while they were dating. In Evil Genius, he is also working on a film led by his sister Patricia.
EW also reported another cameo near the end of the movie, when Orange Is the New Black actress Dascha Polanco appears as an inmate named Carmen.
Cox Also Directed Coco Arquette and Harlow Jane
Cox discussed directing Coco during a THR interview at TIFF. Coco, the daughter she shares with David Arquette, has a small part in the film, and Cox said she has developed a love of performing.
Patricia Arquette’s daughter Harlow Jane told PEOPLE that she asked to audition despite her family connection: “I don’t want it if it’s not right.” Her brief flashback scene required her to learn to roller-skate.
She described enjoying the work and remaining close to Cox, who was married to her uncle David from 1999 to 2013. “She’s still my aunt,” Jane said, describing time spent together with her mother, Cox and Coco.
Patricia Arquette and David Harbour Lead the Cast
Bear hug! David Harbour, Patricia Arquette and #EvilGenius director Courteney Cox at TheWrap’s TIFF studio 📸 pic.twitter.com/dYvb9ESrV3
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) September 11, 2026
Wells died in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 2003 after robbing a bank with an explosive collar locked around his neck. The device detonated after police had arrested him. Cox’s film follows Diehl-Armstrong and Rothstein, her former fiancé and accomplice, through the events surrounding the robbery.
At the premiere, Cox told Reuters that the relationship drew her to the material. She described “a dysfunctional love story that’s really the catalyst for this heist” and said she wanted a tone that allowed humorous and tragic moments to coexist.
“It’s not a redemption story,” Cox told TheWrap. She wanted to examine the characters’ personalities and relationship while avoiding making heroes of them. “We had to make sure that we told the truth, not glorify them.”
Harbour said he and Cox shared an understanding of the dark comedy in the story and the relationship between the two leads. During the post-screening discussion, Cox also credited her years in comedy with teaching her how to judge timing when directing and editing, including how long to hold a moment before moving on, according to EW.
A Hotel Conversation Led to Cox’s Directing Return
Cox told THR that she became involved after running into Barbara Schroeder, who directed the Netflix documentary, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Cox praised the series, and Schroeder encouraged her to pursue directing the narrative adaptation.
Cox described the long development process in an IndieWire interview: “It took me eight years to get this off the ground.” By November 2025, production was underway in New Jersey, Deadline reported.
Courtenay Miles wrote the screenplay, inspired by the documentary series created by Schroeder and Trey Borzillieri. Cox produced alongside Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan and John Buderwitz of Aggregate Films. Ryan Eggold, Gregory Alan Williams and Owen Teague are also in the ensemble.
TIFF presented the film as a world premiere. At the time of EW’s Sept. 12 report, Evil Genius had no distributor or announced general release date.