With this three-day weekend set to pop, Hollywood is letting loose a bevy of last-minute casting news.
First up: Colin Hanks has just signed onto My Mother’s Curse, which contains the improbable pairing of Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand. In this quirky comedy, scripted by Crazy Stupid Love writer Dan Fogelman, Rogen stars as an inventor who is taking his latest creation on the road in hopes of selling it. Also along for the ride is his mom (Babs), who he hopes to reunite with her old flame. According to THR, Hanks will play the husband of Rogen’s high school sweetheart, a role filled by Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski. Expect some intense awkwardness, as Rogen and Mom get stuck on the couple’s couch when an unexpected blizzard strikes. This road movie will hit theaters March 30, 2012.
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In other casting news, The Broken Lizard gang, the wild comedy troop best-known for Super Troopers, is slated to begin production on their next feature this summer, and Variety has revealed former Parks and Recreation star Paul Schneider will be their leading man. The comedy, titled Baby Makers, follows one man’s winding journey to get his wife pregnant. After the traditional methods fail them, Schneider’s character enlists his friends to pull off a deeply bizarre heist: robbing a Pasadena sperm bank of his long-ago-deposited swimmers. Of course the Broken Lizard crew is set to appear in the film, while Jay Chandrasekhar (Thorny of Troopers) is set to direct.
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Lastly via Variety, Rob Reiner, who last year brought the coming-of-age romance Flipped to theaters, is currently in development on his next feature, Summer at Dog Dave’s. While Morgan Freeman is set to star as a curmudgeonly writer, whose increasing depression and alcoholism are killing his inspiration, Virginia Madsen is currently in talks to play his neighbor, a single mother of three, who helps him rediscover his love of writing. (This role was previously rumored to have been offered to Annette Bening, but I think Madsen’s a more interesting fit for it.) Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live, is also said to be talks. The rotund comedian, who has appeared in such gems as Fat Albert and Snake on a Plane, would play the “helpful nephew” to Freeman’s Scrooge. All snarking aside, if Thompson is looking to take on more serious fare, he could find no better mentor than Reiner, who successfully made the leap from TV meathead to respected filmmaker. Summer at Dog Dave’s is set to shoot this July in Greenwood Lake, NY, so expect official cast announcements soon.
What do you think of this latest round of casting news?