DrivingLessons Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Harry Potter has got to end sometime, and by "sometime" I mean in less than three years when the second cinematic half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sees release. And some people would like to still have a career when that happens, thank you very much. To that end, Rupert Grint -- a.k.a. Ron Weasley -- has taken a role in an indie film called Cherry Bomb, which sounds about as far from Harry Potter as you can get without developing an erotic fixation on horses.

The film, written by acclaimed playwright Daragh Caville, focuses on three teens who set out for a wild weekend of drugs, sex and crime only to see it escalate into something far more serious than they imagined. It co-stars relative unknowns Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon, and is set for release next year.

While Daniel Radcliffe has tried more extreme methods of branching out (mainly by taking that infamous role in Equus, which is coming to Broadway per the above link) and Emma Watson hasn't done very much at all (she voices a character in this year's The Tale of Despereaux, but that seems to be it), Grint has spent what spare time he has toiling away in indieville. Cherry Bomb was preceded by the reasonably well-received and much less racy Driving Lessons, about a troubled boy's friendship with a retired actress.

Here's a whole bunch of comedy-laden manly news for you, courtesy of Variety:

• Recognize the dude to the right? Yes, that's the late Chris Farley's younger brother. Kevin Farley had bit parts in his brother's movies, and since then, has found work in gigs that include The Waterboy, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and Blonde and Blonder. Now he's getting Christmasy -- he's landed a lead role in David Zucker's upcoming satire An American Carol, playing a character named Michael Malone.
• And Kevin isn't the only brother with casting news today. Nate Corddry, brother, of course, of Rob, has nabbed not one, but two roles that have him looking for the truth. He's got a gig in Ricky Gervais' This Side of Truth, plus a part in The Ugly Truth -- that whole Katherine Heigl v. a chauvinist Gerard Butler flick. His acting work includes the voice of Seides in Arthur and the Invisibles Minimoys, plus his gig as Tom Jeter in Studio 60 and Calvin in The Nanny Diaries.
• Last up is the old-school Keith Carradine. He's going to go a little Heston/Nugent and play a big NRA supporter and reverend in the upcoming film Driving Lessons -- the film about the woman whose memory loss gives everyone a new outlook on life. Throwing a gun-toting religious man into the mix should make things interesting, and I imagine he'll be connected to Max Thieriot's "religious, right-wing teenage son."

Is it really Monday already? Here are some casting bites that have popped up over at Variety:

• Laz Alonso, who played Zeke in Stomp the Yard, has picked up yet another big-buzz role. He's already got gigs in projects like Miracle at St. Anna and Avatar. Now he's also nabbed a lead gig in the upcoming, fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious. In this sequel, Brian (Paul Walker) gets a place on a druglord's racing team to catch the guy in the act. Alonso is going to play "an intimidating street racer" named Fenix who works for the druglord. I'm more interested in the other roles, but this should give Laz some solid mainstream recognition.
• Meanwhile, Bree Turner, who has been picking up background roles for ten years now (starting off with little bits in films like My Best Friend's Wedding and The Spy Who Shagged Me), has picked up another romcom role. She's going to appear in the upcoming Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler film The Ugly Truth -- this is that comedy where Heigl listens to her chauvinistic co-worker Butler, and takes on his tests to try and find love. I keep wishing this project would fade away, but no such luck.

It sounded a bit creepy when news about the black comedy Driving Lessons first hit. The film was said to focus on "a troubled family who gets a second chance at happiness when the mother (Davis) suffers a memory loss and can't recall the last 15 years of her life." Now, as more cast sign on, it's sounding entirely different. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Max Thieriot (Nancy Drew), Bow Wow (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), Evan Ross (Life Support), Chi McBride (Boston Public), Gabrielle Anwar (The Tudors), Madeline Zima (Californiacation), Brittany Robertson (Dan in Real Life), Jermaine Williams (Stomp the Yard), and John Patrick Amedori (Stick It) have already signed on for parts, and that Selma Blair is in final negotiations.

As it's being described now, Bunnie (Hope Davis' mother character) is "given a second chance at her unhappy marriage to Jack (Dermot Mulroney) after losing her memory. It conveniently helps her to forget an interracial affair with her burly next-door neighbor Simon (McBride)." Go, Chi! Then, things get more weird -- Thieriot will play her "religious, right-wing teenage son," Robertson is the "sexually adventurous daughter," and Blair is finally beyond playing super-young girls and instead, she'll be "a sarcastic lesbian high school teacher having an affair with a student (Zima)." Anwar, meanwhile, will be "Jack's sexy, power-crazed co-worker," while Ross plays McBride's son, and Bow Wow and Williams will be meddlesome thugs. There's no word on Amedori's role. It's definitely a strange selection of random bits, and whether it'll all work together -- we'll have to wait and see. Production gears up next month in LA.

Imagine how happy your life would be if you forgot the last 15 years. That would mean you no longer had any memory of a certain nude scene in About Schmidt. But it would also mean you no longer have any memory of the rest of About Schmidt. Anyway, the reason I mention that movie is because two of its stars, Hope Davis and Dermot Mulroney, will be reunited for a film about memory loss titled Driving Lessons. Not to be confused with the British coming-of-age movie starring Harry Potter's Rupert Grint, this Driving Lessons is about "a troubled family who gets a second chance at happiness when the mother (Davis) suffers a memory loss and can't recall the last 15 years of her life."

That synopsis sounds a bit sad to me. It sounds like the family did something unforgivable to the mother but now they can celebrate thanks to her amnesia. Sure, Mom suffers, but at least they all have a second chance at good times. I guess memory loss is often the subject of laughs and duplicity. Think Overboard. Think 50 First Dates. Think Good Bye, Lenin! -- sort of. Don't it all just make you want to maybe knock your mother or girlfriend or a rich lady you want to pretend is your mom or girlfriend in the head in the hope she'll receive a blank slate? OK, well don't it at least make you want to watch another movie about something akin to that? Driving Lessons was scripted by Mark Lisson (Return to Horror High) and will be helmed by Finnish director Vivi Friedman. Shooting begins in March.