Alexander Payne has found his match. Or rather, has been able to hold on to his intended match. After a bit of speculation and deliberation, the filmmaker, riding high off the success of The Descendants, has chosen long-time character actor Bruce Dern and long-time comedian Will Forte to play father and son, respectively of course, in his upcoming Nebraska.
Dern will play a curmudgeonly old drunk who believes he’s won a million dollars from a sweepstakes and drags his son on a roadtrip to collect the prize. The film is priced at $13 million, the plan being to shoot it in black and white. Paramount has officially greenlit the project, which will begin shooting in October.
This is a big step in a new direction for Forte, who is best known up to now for his reliable comedic presence on Saturday Night Live as well as his cult comedy Macgruber, based on a sketch from SNL. Dern, on the other hand, has been playing surly for years now, and well too. Hopefully this project will catapult both performers to the more notable status they both deserve.
How do you think Dern and Forte will play as father and son?