Jonah Hill says “Aloha” to Shawn Levy and Ben Stiller for Hawaii-set comedy

July 23, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 6 Comments

Comedy heavyweights Shawn Levy, Nicholas Stoller, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill are joining forces on a new comedy for Fox, according to THR. Still in the development stage, Still and Hill are attached to star, Stoller in negotiations to write the screenplay and Levy attached to direct. Levy, Stiller and Hill will also act as producers.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s being described as an island-set comedy, with “Aloha” heavily suggesting that island is probably Hawaii. Reunions abound on the film, as Stoller and Hill have worked on a Hawaiian-set comedy before in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, while Levy directed Stiller in “Night at the Museum” and Hill and Stiller co-star in the upcoming “The Watch.”

Newly minted Oscar nominee Hill has unexpectedly become as serious talent to watch as he begins mixing in more prestige projects with his usual comedic fare. After landing a nom for Best Supporting Actor for playing it serious opposite Brad Pitt in Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball”, Hill quickly signed on to work for heavyweight directors like Martin Scorsese on “The Wolf of Wall Street” and Quentin Tarantino on “Django Unchained.” He’s also attached to courtroom drama “True Story” opposite James Franco, while still maintaining future comedic projects, including the sequel to “21 Jump Street” with Channing Tatum.

“Young Adult” breakout star Patton Oswalt joins Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

February 10, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Longtime comedian and award season breakout star Patton Oswalt is enjoying something of a higher profile in Hollywood following a tremendous role opposite Charlize Theron in Jason Reitman’s divisive dark comedy “Young Adult.” And what comes with a higher profile? Higher profile roles, of course! Variety reports Oswalt has joined the cast of Ben Stiller’s remake of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, also starring Kristen Wiig, who had something of a breakout year herself after co-writing and starring in “Bridesmaids.”

Stiller is directing and also starring in the remake of the 1974 comedy, which was based on a 1939 short story that appeared in The New Yorker. Stiller plays the title character, a timid LIFE Magazine employee who develops pictures of other people having adventures. When an important negative goes missing, he gets to play hero and maybe get the girl (Wiig). Oswalt plays Todd, an eHarmony counselor who helps Mitty set up a dating profile and Shirley MacLaine is also on board as Mitty’s mom. Filming begins in April.

Oswalt, a longtime series regular on Kevin James sitcom “The King of Queens”, came close to Oscar this year when he played the sarcastic foil to Theron’s hot mess in “Young Adult” (he was just honored for that performance with a Virtuosos Award last weekend at the Santa Barbara Film Festival). He can be seen opposite Steve Carell and Keira Knightley in this summer’s apocalyptic comedy “Seeking a Friend at the End of the World” and with Anton Yelchin and Willem Defoe in “Odd Thomas.”

Ben Stiller welcomes Will Forte to the “Neighborhood”

September 15, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

“Saturday Night Live” alum Will Forte has joined the ever-growing comedic ensemble cast of “Neighborhood Watch”, reports THR. Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn lead the alien invasion comedy along with a cast that also includes Jonah Hill, Rosemarie DeWitt, “Submarine” director Richard Ayoade and most recently, “Red State” star Nicholas Braun.

The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer directs the film about a group of bored suburbanites who form a neighborhood watch group as a front for male bonding and inadvertently stumble across an alien plot to destroy the world. Forte’s character will be Sergeant Bressman, perhaps indicating he will not be one of the dads but rather be involved in some sort of law enforcement subplot.

Forte, a prolific writer and producer, has worked on series including “Late Show with David Letterman”, “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “That ’70s Show.” As a veteran of “SNL” since 2002, he has stayed close with the tight-knit group of comedians, often appearing in other cast members’ projects, including “30 Rock” with Tina Fey and “Parks and Recreation” with Amy Poehler. An attempt to capitalize on one of his SNL personas – the hapless “MacGruber” – as a feature film failed in 2010, but Forte’s film career is still on the rise. He’ll be seen opposite fellow SNL alum Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler in next year’s “I Hate You, Dad” and had a role written especially for him in Adam Shankman’s upcoming musical “Rock of Ages.”

Nicholas Braun moves into Ben Stiller’s “Neighborhood”

September 12, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Nicholas Braun seems to have a knack for joining ragtag teams of misfits. The star of Kevin Smith’s “Red State” and Disney’s “Prom” has signed on to be part of Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn’s “Neighborhood Watch”, reports Variety. Directed by the Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, the film follows a group of bored suburban dwellers who form a neighborhood watch group and stumble upon an alien invasion plot. Jonah Hill and Rosemarie DeWitt are also part of the comedic cast.

Braun hit it off with Smith on “Red State” and has subsequently been cast as the lead in the director’s two-part hockey comedy “Hit Somebody.” He recently appeared in “Chalet Girl” opposite Felicity Jones and wrapped up a supporting role on “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” with Emma Watson and Logan Lerman. He has one of the two leads in Lionsgate’s currently filming comedy “Gay Dude.”

Jonah Hill may report for “Neighborhood Watch” duty

August 17, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Increasingly in demand funnyman Jonah Hill is in talks to star join Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in alien invasion comedy “Neighborhood Watch”, reports Vulture. Directed by the Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, the film follows a group of bored suburban dwellers who form a neighborhood watch group and stumble upon an alien invasion plot. Rosemarie DeWitt also recently joined the cast.

Vulture cautions negotiations with Hill may not fall perfectly into place. In Hill’s favor, his good buddies and fellow Appatow alums Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the screenplay. Against: his rising pricetag, which has grown even higher in light of baseball drama“Moneyball” testing extremely well. “Neighborhood Watch” has a set budget of $90 million, a good chunk of which has already been partitioned off for arguably bigger stars Stiller and Vaughn, and for special effects.

Hill, who broke out in 2007′s “Superbad” alongside Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, recently completed the reboot of “21 Jump Street” opposite Channing Tatum. He’ll take his first foray into awards season opposite Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month. Then it’s a return to raunchy comedy in “The Sitter”, opening in December.

Jesse Eisenberg reunites with director Noah Baumach for “While We’re Young”

May 31, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The director who, arguably, discovered one of the brightest rising stars of today will get the chance to reunite with the now newly minted Oscar nominee, as 24 Frames reports Jesse Eisenberg is in early talks to star in his “The Squid and the Whale” director Noah Baumach’s new film, “While We’re Young”. Ben Stiller is already set to star in the film, and Naomi Watts is circling as well.

“While We’re Young” is a multi-generational relationship drama about a childless couple in their 30s/40s (Stiller and Watts) who begin to feel alienated from their circle of friends who are starting to procreate, and begin to form an unusual friendship with a younger couple. Eisenberg, who played the son of divorcing parents for Baumach in “Squid”, will now play one half of the younger couple. His love interest has not yet been cast. Eisenberg and Watts are replacing roles originally intended for James Franco and Cate Blanchett, who had been in talks but fell out in recent months.

Eisenberg has been in high demand ever since breaking out in a big way in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor this past February. He recently completed filming on indie dramedy “Free Samples” and will next star opposite Melissa Leo in “Predisposed”, before heading to Rome for Woody Allen’s next destination romantic comedy in the vein of his recent Cannes hit “Midnight in Paris”. Meanwhile, super producer Soctt Rudin, who produced “The Social Network” and will produce “While We’re Young”, is also fighting for Eisenberg to star in his next, “The Terrorist Search Engine”. He will next be seen opposite Aziz Ansari in comedy “30 Minutes Or Less”, which releases on August 12.

First Poster for “Submarine”

January 21, 2011 | Posted by Tamara Manne in Images Leave a comment

Independent film Submarine, from producer Ben Stiller and director Richard Ayoade (his feature film debut), is showing at the Sundance Film Festival this week. This coming-of-age dark comedy is based on the Curtis Brown prize winning novel by Joe Dunthorne.

According to MTV, Submarine follows Oliver (portrayed by Craig Roberts), “who fancies himself a cool, well-liked literary genius but in reality is socially awkward and unpopular. With his 16th birthday on the horizon, Oliver wants to do just two things: lose his virginity to his arsonist girlfriend Jordana (Yasmin Paige) and prevent his mom (Sally Hawkins), whom he suspects of banging her New Age life/dance coach Graham (Paddy Considine), from leaving his depressed father (Noah Taylor). And so he sets out to break up his mother’s affair and save his family… all while pursing the seemingly impossible dream of cashing in his V card.”

Check out the full-size poster below.
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