First look: Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss in dark comedy “Imogene”, premiering at Toronto International Film Festival

July 24, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images Leave a comment

Kristen Wiig is swapping rude and crude comedy for something darker this September, as the comedian returns to the big screen at Toronto International Film Festival in Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini‘s “Imogene“.

The film follows “a washed-up playwright who, after faking her own suicide as a ploy to get her ex-boyfriend’s attention, winds up remanded to the custody of her wackily dysfunctional family.” SNL writer Michelle Morgan wrote the script and it is a film that Wiig has been championing for several years, finally being able to get the film into production after the success of last year’s smash hit “Bridesmaids“.

Also starring ‘Glee”s Darren Criss, Annette Bening and Matt Dillon, TIFF.net have three new images for us, starring Wiig and Criss, and although the film currently has no US disctribution, we’re sure that will soon change.

Click below for more images.

Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan and more vying for Rob Marshall’s “The Thin Man” opposite Johnny Depp

March 29, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 6 Comments

An eclectic group of actresses are on the shortlist for the next Next Big Role, as Deadline reports director Rob Marshall is on the hunt for a leading lady for his next feature film, “The Thin Man.” Those vying for the part opposite Johnny Depp include Oscar winners and nominees Rachel Weisz, Amy Adams and Carey Mulligan, funny ladies Emily Blunt, Isla Fisher, Kristen Wiig and Emma Stone, and Depp’s upcoming “Dark Shadows” co-star Eva Green.

Depp will as Nick Charles, a former detective who gave up the trade to live a life of drunken partying with his witty, young and wealthy socialite wife Nora. Against their wishes, they’re drawn back into investigating a murder, trading banter and flirtation along the way. The film could be construed as a remake since six films were released in the 1930s starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, but Marshall will be sourcing the original novel by Dashiell Hammett.

Though Nora is supposed to be younger than Nick, it seems Stone (next in “The Amazing Spider-Man”) and Mulligan (recently wrapped up Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby”) are skewing pretty young to play romantic interest to Depp. Green and Depp will play ex-lovers in Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” next month, making us wonder if it’s too soon to pair them up again. Wiig had a big breakout moment after “Bridesmaids”, though her comedic chops have geared more towards sardonic rather than airy; while Weisz (the sole Oscar winner here for “The Constant Gardener”) has done very little comedy in her career. Fisher, Mulligan’s “Great Gatsby” co-star and a proven talented comedienne, and Adams, twice Oscar nominated and breaking out as a full blown Disney princess in “Enchanted”, seem like the best choices to us, though it must come down, in the end, to chemistry with Depp. What say you, readers?

“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.”

Funny girl Kristen Wiig to star in “The Comedian”; to be directed by Sean Penn

October 27, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 4 Comments

One of the break out stars of 2011, Kristen Wiig is to star in “The Comedian”, which follows “a raging comic (to be played by Robert de Niro) past his prime who clings to any recognition that comes from his days as a beloved TV character as he tries to reignite his stagnant career. Sentenced to community service for hitting a heckler in the head with a microphone, the comic meets Harmony (who we assume will be played by Wiig), a dazzling and defiant redhead who turns his life sideways.” Deadline reports that Oscar winner Sean Penn will direct form a script by Art Linson and Jeffrey Ross.

Wiig, who found fame on TV’s Saturday Night Live, broke out in a big way this past summer, in the hit comedy “Bridesmaids”. Since then, she has been short-listed for several roles, including vying to become Sacha Baren Cohen’s female lead in “The Dictator”.

Although “The Comedian” sounds like a comedy, we’re expecting lots of drama, so we hope to see Wiig given the chance to stretch her abilities, and for us to see her in something slightly different.
Shooting is set to star in Spring 2012, and Film Nation, who will launch the project, have said they are “so excited to be working with such an amazingly talent group of filmmakers on this movie. It simply doesn’t get much better than this … “

“Bridesmaids” breakout Melissa McCarthy commits “ID Theft” against Jason Bateman

August 16, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Behold the power of a great breakout moment. When Jason Bateman first began producing comedy “ID Theft” as a starring vehicle for himself and another actor, the script called for one guy to steal another’s identity. But after Bateman saw Melissa McCarthy’s scene-stealing turn as an aggressive future sister-in-law in the recent monster hit “Bridesmaids”, he pushed for the role to be rewritten for her to be the identity thief instead.

Deadline reports Bateman and McCarthy are now attached to star in the film, which will also be delayed to work around McCarthy’s commitment to hit CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly”, for which she was just nominated for an Emmy. The plan is to shoot it in April 2012 when “Mike and Molly” goes on summer hiatus after its current season. Steve Conrad wrote the original script for “ID Theft” and Craig Mazin is currently rewriting to incorporate the gender swap of the identity thief.

Universal seems intent on keeping their newly discovered comedic gem under their wings, as in addition to “ID Theft”, McCarthy has also tentatively lined up two more comedies for the studio, and neither strays far from her “Bridesmaids” roots. Judd Apatow, producer and Paul Feig, director on the film, are producing an untitled “unconventional love story” and have McCarthy and co-star Jon Hamm in mind for the two starring roles. McCarthy is also tentatively attached to star in a different untitled comedy that reunites a whole gang of “Brdiesmaids” for the studio. She co-wrote the comedy, about a group of friends who decide to steal the Stanley Cup after one woman’s husband falls ill, with Annie Mumolo, who co-starred in and co-wrote “Bridesmaids” with Kristen Wiig. McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone, also in “Bridesmaids”, came up with the idea.

Trio of funny ladies vying to be Sacha Baron Cohen’s female lead in “The Dictator”

April 28, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 3 Comments

Kristen Wiig, Anna Faris and Gillian Jacobs have emerged as the front-runners to play the female lead in Sacha Baron Cohen’s next film, “The Dictator”, reports THR. While that is being sorted out, and THR cautions that the producers are still reading other actresses so it could end up being someone else altogether, Jason Mantzoukas is now in negotiations to play Cohen’s sidekick.

The film, which reteams Cohen with his “Borat” director Larry Charles, tells (tongue firmly in cheek) “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.” Cohen will play dual roles of the dictator and a goat herder, who gets lost in the US.

Faris is perhaps the most well known film actress out of the three comediennes vying to be Cohen’s leading lady, having headlined the “Scary Movie” franchise and films like “The House Bunny”. She’ll next be seen in a much more traditional rom-com “What’s My Number” opposite Chris Evans this September. Wiig became a breakout on “Saturday Night Live” since joining the show in 2005 and has been slowly trying to build a film career, with supporting roles in movies like “Knocked Up”, “Adventureland” and “Whip It”. While an attempt to bring a popular SNL character to the big screen in “MacGruber” wasn’t successful, she will take a more leading role in the upcoming “Bridesmaids”, a bawdy gross-out comedy in the vein of “The Hangover” with an all-female cast. Jacobs is the star of NBC’s awesome and underrated “Community” but hasn’t been landing as many feature films with only a couple of indie pictures recently completed and awaiting release.

A decision will have to be made soon as “The Dictator” aims to begin filming in New Mexico and Morocco in May.

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