Meet the Parents Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Oh, WHO Will Direct the New 'Fockers' Flick?
Filed under: Comedy », Remakes and Sequels »
Looks like the third entry in the endless mirth-fest that is the Fockers franchise will need a new director. According to the Risky Biz blog, mega-successful comedy helmer Jay Roach will NOT be returning to direct (as he did on the amusing Meet the Parents and the execrable Meet the Fockers), although screenwriter John Hamburg will be returning to stretch this single gag into a full trilogy.The blog mentions a few possible candidates in David Wain (Role Models), Peyton Reed (Down With Love), and Paul Weitz (About a Boy), but c'mon: A high-end tripod could probably direct this big-screen sitcom schtick. Plus this looks to be a comedy version of the Mummy franchise: Same director for Parts 1 and 2, and then in comes a new guy and ... somehow things get even worse. I'm guessing Meet the Little Focker (or whatever they're calling it) will go to Adam Shankman or Howard Deutch or someone else with an empty spot in their calendar, and the thing will make $200 million regardless. Terrence Malick could do the job and it wouldn't make one spot of difference at the box office.
So yeah: Little Focker is still coming. Maybe this time out they'll get SIX Oscar winners in the cast, only to upstage them with a pooping cat or a farting baby.
Discuss: Does the World Really Need 'Little Fockers'?
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », RumorMonger », Remakes and Sequels »
When bad movie ideas hit the wire and then seemingly dissolve into thin air, there's a chance to breathe that sigh of relief over what could have happened, but didn't. Unfortunately, sometimes months or even years later, we're slapped with the news that silence doesn't necessarily mean death, and that our worst nightmares are coming true.Fox News has "released" word that a sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers is happening. We already knew that was the case, since it was confirmed last year, but the news piece does add to it -- Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro are returning. This means that last year's news wasn't a dream, and that Ben Stiller hasn't forgotten about it, no matter what other projects he is busying himself with. We are getting more Fockers. We just don't know if Babs and Dustin are in for the ride as well.
Not that it matters. There are those that love the original, and those who actually like the sequel more, but can't we all agree that a third installment is pushing it. I mean, what're they going to do? Have Gaylord actually try milking a cat for his kid? Do any of you actually want to see that? Are you eager for more Focker hijinx?
'Meet the Parents' Heads to Korea
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Deals », Scripts »
Friends with successful pens... What they write can be the ultimate compliment, especially if you get to have a hand in the story's creation, or an all-too revealing surprise riddled with personal information (like, say, Diary of a Sex Addict). Luckily, for Iain McConnell, it's the former; The Hollywood Reporter has posted that McConnell and his cousin, Jason Filardi, will be penning the story of his Korean wedding for Lionsgate.Of course, "McConnell" isn't a Korean name, and this is where the Meet the Parents bit comes in. Iain was teaching English as a second language when he fell in love with a Korean woman. He proposed, and she said yes, but she had a catch: "Her Korean family must approve and they must have a traditional wedding in Korea." So, the guy packs up himself and his family and heads to Korea to make that happen. (If you're wondering what the wedding would be like, check out the pic at the right, and maybe watch Lane's wedding on Gilmore Girls.)
Filardi previously penned Bringing Down the House, which isn't the best flick out there, but he's also got Seventeen Again and the upcoming Topper remake on the way. So, this could be cute. But hopefully it won't be quite as painful to watch as Ben Stiller's version. That one's funny, but man, it pains me.
Spacek and Steenburgen Join 'Four Christmases'
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », New Line »
It must be a lot of fun casting veteran actors as parents of current stars. Thanks to past casting decisions we got to see Sean Connery play Harrison Ford's father, Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman play Ben Stiller's mom and dad, and Keith Richards (wait, he's not a veteran actor) as Johnny Depp's pirate papa. Now, somewhat similar to the parental stunt-casting of the Meet the Parents movies, we're getting some interesting casting choices for the roles of both Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's parents in next holiday season's Four Christmases. It's a comedy about a married couple attempting to visit with all four of their parents -- who are all divorced and live in four different locations -- on Christmas Day. We've already learned Robert Duvall is one of the fathers (now we find out he's playing Vaughn's). Now, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actresses Sissy Spacek and Mary Steenburgen are hopping on board as the moms. Can you imagine which one goes with which of the movie's leads? Immediately I thought "Loretta Lynn" should be mom to "June Carter" and tall(er) "Clara Clayton" should be mom to super-tall "Fred Claus". Alas, the casting went the other way: "Carrie" is the mother of "Norman Bates" and "Hannah Nixon" is the mother of "Tracy Flick". To be more specific, "Spacek will play the slightly spacey, New Age mother of Brad (Vaughn). Steenburgen will play the chameleonlike mother of Kate (Witherspoon), whose personality changes depending on whom she's married to or dating." We still don't know which Academy Award winning actor (he has to have an Oscar, like the other parents) will play Witherspoon's dad -- may I suggest Chris Cooper? or Alan Arkin? The only other role cast is the part of Witherspoon's "controlling, type-A sister", to be played by Kristen Chenoweth.
Paul Rudd Says 'I Love You, Man'
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », Dreamworks »
There are some actors who need to stick to playing supporting roles. Paul Rudd is not one of them -- he is good-looking and perfectly capable of being a lead -- but that doesn't mean I can't prefer him as the leading man's buddy, or as the romantic opposition, or as a member of an hilarious ensemble. But as goofy as the guy is, we have to remember that he was once just that love interest/step-brother for Alicia Silverstone in Clueless. Fortunately, as Rudd appears to grow in Hollywood status, starring in his own vehicles, he seems to be choosing movies that relate more to his work with Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and the Stella guys than to run of the mill romantic comedies. His latest to be announced is called I Love You, Man, which makes one think of the joke in Wayne's World about platonic love between two grown men (" I LOVE you, man"). And, what do you know? I Love You, Man is in fact about platonic love between two grown men. According to Variety, the movie is about a guy (Rudd), who is about to get married, but who doesn't have a male friend who can serve as his best man. So, he seeks one out and eventually finds gangly Jason Segal of TV's How I Met Your Mother (and Knocked Up, which co-starred Rudd).
Owen Wilson and Nick Nolte Join 'Tropic Thunder'
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », Dreamworks », Tom Cruise », War »
What's a Ben Stiller movie without Owen Wilson? They've been working together together on and off -- though it seems more like continuously on -- since The Cable Guy. It is no surprise, then, that Wilson has just signed up for Stiller's Tropic Thunder. This is Stiller's fourth feature as director, and with the exception of his debut, Reality Bites, he has so far found a role for his friend in all of them (he also directed Wilson in the TV pilot for Heat Vision and Jack). It isn't clear what kind of role Wilson will have this time, but I'm guessing he will play an actor working on the movie-within-the-movie. So far, these actors, who end up on a war film shoot gone to hell, include Robert Downey Jr. as an Oscar-winning star, Jay Baruchel as an unknown, Jack Black as a drug addicted comic actor, and Stiller himself, who may be a pumped up action star (as per Erik's educated guess). Then, as a non-actor, Tom Cruise is rumored to be making a cameo as a studio tyrant.Also joining the cast now is Nick Nolte. His part is also unspecified, but he clearly must be some actor playing a lieutenant colonel or something -- basically playing himself playing his part in The Thin Red Line. Nolte is thankfully getting a lot of work these days, despite his infamous personal problems, but this is a welcome chance for the 48 Hrs. actor to return to comedy. Sure, he's not the funniest man in the world, but I think he's a good cranky straight man (in addition to the two 48 Hrs. movies, he's the only good thing about Three Fugitives), and he can even occasionally be the comic, too (Down and Out in Beverly Hills). Unfortunately he really missed the funny boat by working with director Alan Rudolph in Breakfast of Champions and Trixie (he has done great dramatic work for the director), and so it seems easier to just cast him in dramas. Although Nolte probably won't have the opportunity to get a lot of laughs in Tropic Thunder, I at least applaud Stiller for adding him to the ensemble of funnymen.
Little Fockers Confirmed
Filed under: Comedy », Universal », Remakes and Sequels »
It seems Teri Polo wasn't lying last month when she said there would be another sequel to Meet the Parents. Here, I thought she was just making up stuff in the hopes Universal would agree that a third installment is a good idea. She definitely needs the job more than the rest of the franchise's cast. In fact, I bet she's hoping for a television spin-off (on which she'd be the only actor to follow her part to the tube, I'm sure). Anyway, it is true. Universal is moving ahead with Little Fockers.The sequel, which follows the comical next step by featuring children, was confirmed with the studio's renewing of its contract with Robert DeNiro's and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca Productions, which will produce the movie. Jay Roach will be returning to the franchise as director and Larry Stuckey is set to write the script. Obviously Polo, DeNiro, Ben Stiller, and Blythe Danner will all have to return, possibly joined by Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. And no Fockers movie is complete without a visit from Owen Wilson.
Unlike a lot of people, I hated Meet the Parents but really enjoyed Meet the Fockers, mostly due to Hoffman though for other reasons as well. I'm pretty positive that I would not like this third movie, though, because I feel like I already know every joke it will include. I could do without any more first-time diaper change gags, thank you. Anyway, didn't the second movie already feature enough kiddie comedy? Still, I'm very glad they're making this. My mother absolutely loves the first two and I'm sure she'll love another. And anything that makes Mom happy makes me happy.
I've Had Enough of These Fockin' Sequels...
Filed under: Comedy », Universal », Remakes and Sequels »
One for the "I knew it was coming, but I kinda wish it wasn't" department: Everyone get ready for a movie called Meet the Little Focker, which will be the third chapter in the densely-plotted and astoundingly brainy series that began with Meet the Parents and continued (miserably) with Meet the Fockers.According to an AP report, actress Teri Polo is the one who let the cat out of the bag ... and that's pretty much all we got for you, news-wise. Meet the Little Focker. Coming soon. Teri Polo said so. And it seems a safe bet that folks like Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman will be returning. All those actors have really expensive houses and cars and stuff, you know.
While you're awaiting the most heavily-anticipated baby-centric second sequel since Look Who's Talking Now, take a few minutes to contemplate this fact: Meet the Fockers grossed $280 million in North America alone. That figures out to about $140 million per laugh. But yeah, make another one. Absolutely. Maybe one day Universal can mount a trilogy about something even more domestically banal, like Next Door Neighbor or Squeaky Screen Door.
Meet the Secret Agent Men
Filed under: Comedy », Deals », Universal », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
Having written the screenplays for Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and Along Came Polly (which he also directed), it's obvious John Hamburg has an eye for comedy, as well as starring vehicles for Ben Stiller. Now it looks like Hamburg will take on two more directing gigs for Universal (did the studio officially adopt him or what?), one of which he wrote himself and the other appears to be a collaboration.
Based on a pitch by Hamburg, Scott Turpel and Kyle Pennekamp, Universal has picked up the buddy action comedy Secret Agent Men, a project Hamburg will direct, while Turpel and Pennekamp pen the script. Story is being kept under wraps right now (dare I say it's a secret), though something tells me Stiller's name will circle one of the starring roles. However, Hamburg's other film (which he'll direct first), The Troubleshooter, is currently searching for its cast, so I guess now it's a question of whether or not Stiller will show up in just one or both films?
And speaking of Stiller, what happened to the guy? Is it just me, or are his role choices progressively getting worse?
Universal chair to head Dreamworks?
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Executive shifts », Paramount », Universal », RumorMonger », Newsstand », Dreamworks »
After weeks of speculation that Universal Pictures
chairman Stacey Snider was being considered to replace Paramount's president, it's been revealed that she is in fact in
talks with the company - but to supervise Dreamworks, their recent acquisition. Though Snider was not available for
comment, it's understood that Paramount wants her to run Dreamworks' live-action division, in hopes that she will guide
the studio to the major hits that will be necessary to make Paramount's massive investment begin to pay off.At Universal, Snider has been responsible for such successful (if not quality) franchises as The Mummy, Meet the Parents, and the Bourne and American Pie series, and her talents are in high demand. Though her home studio says it wants to keep her, Universal execs may not be willing to pay the salary that Snider's popularity in Hollywood will enable her to demand.
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