-
Actor Jason Segel co-wrote and starred in last year's The Muppets, which, after being the first Muppets movie in over ten years, quickly became the most successful Muppets movie ever made. Discussion of a sequel naturally followed, but reportedly without Segel's involvement, as neither a writer nor as an actor.
Segel's stepping away seemed curious, since his co-writer — Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller — is on board to return as well as director James Bobin. However, in an interview with Collider, Segel confirmed that he will not work on the sequel, claiming that he wanted to "pursue more human-related projects."
read segel's comments >> Posted 03.05.12 by Ryan -
Director Ruben Fleischer scored a home-run with his directorial debut Zombieland. And, he is already set to direct another comedy called 30 Minutes or Less in July, while screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick write Zombieland 2.Fleischer expects to start shooting "sometime towards the end of the year or early next year." Not content with such a robust workload, Fleischer has also added another comedy project to his list.
Fleischer to team with Mike White on new movie >> Posted 06.23.10 by Ryan -
When Universal first announced plans to adapt Hasbro's Stretch Armstrong toy into a 3-D live-action movie starring Taylor Lautner, a lot of people were left scratching their heads and wondering what the movie could possibly be about. After all, there's no healthy backstory for the half-naked man with a stretchy body — unlike toy-to-movie adaptations G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers, which both had a wealth of animated episodes and comic books to draw on for inspiration. Turns out, the character's "blank slate" is what made the movie such an enticing project for screenwriter Nick Stoller.
But is comparing it to Iron Man a stretch? >> Posted 05.20.10 by BrentJS -
It may be almost ten years later, but Ben Stiller told MTV that his 2001 comedy Zoolander is getting a sequel.
Yes, it is true. We are in the process of getting a script written. It's in the early stages, but it's gonna happen. We've been trying for years to... figure it out. It'll have input from all the ... Zoolander people. It's just ... taken awhile.
Stiller, who wrote and directed the 2001 original, says he is putting a script together with Iron Man 2 screenwriter Justin Theroux (who will also direct the sequel), though several drafts have been written before.
Other people have worked on the script. There have been earlier scripts that [Zoolander writer John] Hamburg's had input on, and [Get Him to the Greek screenwriter] Nick Stoller and people ... we're just going to take the best of what we have and we have a new story idea that we feel excited about and we're going to try to go forward.
Zoolander followed Stiller as a dim supermodel who gets embroiled in an assassination plot, but Stiller claims the sequel will have an entirely new story.
Well I think it has to be [a Zoolanderfor a new generation]. The fashion world, you know, you go away for a year and its changed. It just happens so quickly. So I think the idea at the beginning of the movie is ... it's 10 years later, and Derek & Hansel [Owen Wilson] are literally forgotten. Nobody even knows who they are, so they have to re-invent themselves.
The sequel could see a familiar villain, however.
If Will [Ferrell] says yes, he definitely has to be a part of it. To me, Mugatu is one of the classic screen villains of all time.
Posted 03.03.10 by Ryan -
Universal Pictures has released eight still images and the first trailer for its new comedy, Get Him to the Greek, exclusively to Apple.com. Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Yes Man), Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (FSM), with Russell Brand reprising the role of Brit-rocking boy-toy Aldous Snow. Jonah Hill is also back, though as Aaron Green, an intern at Snow's record company, not as the Snow-loving resort employee from FSM.
When we revisit Snow in Get Him to the Greek, he's a shadow of his former self. The confident, self-absorbed, rock god Snow of FSM has been replaced by a heart-broken, heavy-drinking Snow fearful that he's entering the "greatest hits" phase of his music career. Snow's producer, Sergio Roma (Sean Combs), tasks the eager-to-please Green with escorting Snow from London to L.A., where he is supposed to start a world tour aimed at reviving his career. When Snow learns that his one true love, model/pop star Jackie Q (played by Rose Byrne), is in L.A., he makes it his mission to get there before his tour begins, dragging Green through a "minefield of London drug smuggles, New York City brawls, and Vegas lap dances."
Clint Morris of Moviehole claims to have read the original script for Get Him to the Greek and described it as having "great jokes, some wonderful cameos, and, believe it or not, a half-decent plot to boot." Morris went on to say that, unfortunately, he imagined many of the "racier" scenes in the script would have to be cut to meet the R-rating, saying they "do borderline on both soft-porn and unfilmable rancidness."
Posted 02.15.10 by BrentJS -
Last week, Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin was announced as the director of Disney's upcoming Muppet Movie, which was titled The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.
Now, a new piece of news from Muppetland: The title is changing. The Playlist writes that a source confirmed it's now The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. Said unknown source also provided a brief synopsis of the script, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller:
The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time is about Gary, Mary, and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man's life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang — now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from — together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman (nice name, on par with Doc Hopper), bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers (see also "Heartbroken: The Conan O'Brien Story").
Sounds a bit formulaic (an oil-greedy tycoon named Tex Richman?), but it should have a good bit of nostalgia and offer some fun opportunities for re-exploring the Muppets in their heyday. The mysterious source's evaluation?
It's a solid attempt at recapturing what made The Muppet Show and the first two Muppet movies so great, but The Great Muppet Movie of All Time is no Great Muppet Caper ... but it is a fresh, younger approach. Stoller and Segel have fun with the characters, are aware of what made the Muppet early years so great.... But what their script lacks (oddly enough, this being a Muppet movie and all) is forward pulse.
We'll have to wait and see what the final product looks like. Disney plans to go into production this summer. In the meantime, enjoy the Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker singing "Danny Boy."
Posted 02.10.10 by reelz -
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin will take the reins on Disney's upcoming Muppet movie. Apparently, Bobin had his pick of directing either the Muppet movie or the Judd Apatow comedy Bridesmaids, and he went withthe former.
Originally, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were going to take on the project, but they instead opted to go for Sony's upcoming re-make of 21 Jump Street, the '80s TV show that kickstarted Johnny Depp's career.
The script for the yet-to-be-titled Muppet movie was penned by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. Plot details are under wraps, and no release date or star appearances have been announced.
Posted 01.31.10 by reelz