Lasse Hallstrom to Direct Romantic Comedy

Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Deals, Sony

I don't like picturing Jessica Lange dating Haley Joel Osment, but that is what popped into my head while reading about Sammy. The romantic comedy follows a relationship between a woman who communicates with animals (à la Lange in Broken Flowers) and a man who communicates with the dead (à la Osment in The Sixth Sense) . The script has been written by Delia Ephron, but instead of being directed by her sister Nora, the project has Lasse Hallstrom attached.

I pretend that I dislike Hallstrom as a director, but honestly the only film of his I've bothered to see is The Cider House Rules. Still, I have noticed that his career hasn't been going so well of late. His next film The Hoax is due in a month, and he's also set to direct Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, either of which could turn his luck around (he also mentioned plans for The Royal Physician's Visit last fall), but lowering himself to the level of a paranormal rom-com is not a good direction to go in. Seriously, what was the last successful romantic comedy with fantasy elements? I understand that Hallstrom could be desperate enough to make studio fluff, but unless he simply needs the paycheck, he can't hope for much good to come out of this.

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