Molly Shannon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Cinematical has just received this creepy (but oddly adorable) exclusive teaser poster for Igor (click on the image to enlarge), an animated film coming to us via The Weinstein Co. this September. Igor features the voice talent of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon, Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall ... it gets better ... and James Lipton -- playing himself! Talk about a voice cast sent from the comedy Gods! Igor is the story of a mad scientist's hunchbacked lab assistant whose greatest dream is to win the coveted first place award at the annual Evil Science Fair. This one looks like all kinds of fun -- I mean, look at that poster. Look at that face. How do you not love that face? How do you not want to take Igor home with you, cuddle up on the couch, watch a monster movie marathon and -- if time allows -- destroy the world? I know I do ...

Igor arrives in theaters on September 19.

In Mike White's directorial debut, Year of the Dog, Molly Shannon plays Peggy – a cube-stuck, quiet woman whose main source of joy is her beagle, Pencil ... who dies. White's best known for broad screenplays (he wrote School of Rock, and co-wrote Nacho Libre), but his scripts The Good Girl and Chuck and Buck have a smaller-wrought, more intimate feel to them. In many ways, Year of the Dog is a bridge between the two seemingly separate threads in his work. White, in person, is unassuming and mild; talking about his work, though, the level of thought he puts into his scripts becomes slowly and firmly apparent. Cinematical spoke with White in San Francisco. The technically-minded can download the entire interview here.

Cinematical: Year of the Dog came out of a pretty personal place for you -- The inciting incident being a stray cat had been living in your backyard literally dying in your arms. How long a relationship did you have with this cat?

Mike White: A couple years -- I had sort of inherited it when I moved into this house that I had bought. And I didn't have any animals up to that point -- I mean, when I was a little kid, I did -- I didn't even really realize how attached I had become to this cat. Over the years it sort of became my pet; it had come in, slept with me -- I was really just super-stressed, and kind of over-worked, and under-slept, and this cat's death just totally spun me out in a way that I totally did not expect. I just had a really emotional reaction to it, and it just gave me the idea – later, after the dust had settled – I just thought, "Well, that's an interesting idea for a movie premise – somebody who has a relationship with a pet, and the loss of that changes their life in away."

Cinematical: And you're not a psychologist, but obviously, you've thought about this to a certain degree – do you think that people put a lot of emotion into their relationship with their pets, because culturally, we're not supposed to it with work?

MW: Right. I think a lot of people do ... In the movie, people put a lot of their eggs in different ... I mean, Peggy's boss is really into his job, the parents with the kid, her friend at work who's obsessed with her boyfriend. ... Whether it's animals, or -- with animals, because they are a source of affection and because the relationship is relatively uncomplicated – there's not a lot of the bargaining that goes on in human relationships, and the needs of animals are pretty simple: being fed, and ...

Cinematical: Pick up the poop. ...

MW: Right. I think the movie – while it does sort of take her animal passion or animal love seriously, it also does gets into her projection on to the animals in her life and how some of it is a little absurd and kind of misguided at some points, too.

Year of the Dog, the latest film by director Mike White (Nacho Libre, School of Rock, The Good Girl) is a touching, funny tale about love, loss, and finding meaning in a meaningless world. No, really, it is -- just not in the cliched, melodramatic sense. The set-up of the film immediately calls to mind 2005's comedic smash hit, 40-Year-Old Virgin, but with a female lead instead of a guy. Where Virgin gave us a peek into the life of 40-year-old guy who decorates his apartment with new-in-box action figures and plays videogames by himself all the time, Year of the Dog gives us a window into the life of Peggy (Molly Shannon), a similarly-aged woman living alone with her beagle, Pencil in her starkly neat home.

One of the strengths of Virgin was that it never stooped to mockery of main character Andy (Steve Carrell), the sad sack who's never managed to get laid. Andy wasn't ugly, he didn't have horrible breath, and he wasn't a serial killer with mommy issues; he was just a normal guy who dressed neatly and had a neurotic fear of sex after several bad experiences trying to lose his virginity. Andy was like a lot of 30-and-40-something guys living alone or in their parents' basement apartment, mired in a world where computer games and internet chat take the place of a real social life. Likewise, in Year of the Dog, Peggy is never caricatured as a miserable old maid; she's just a woman for whom the progression of a relationship to marriage never happened.

John Cusack will officially be lending his voice to tell the story of a brilliant underdog named Igor. Chris McKenna, who wrote for the animated series American Dad, penned the film, which is titled after its main character. Igor tells the story of a gifted scientist that, due to undisclosed reasons (physical abnormalities perhaps?), must live his life in the shadow of the acclaimed Dr. Glickenstein. In an effort to move out from under his oppressive wing he creates a huge monster to win in an Evil Science Fair.

Igor was originally set to be played by Christian Slater (who voiced the character in the short film), though there's no word why he dropped out. Cusack will do wonders with the role and is supported by an incredible cast including Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, and Jay Leno. Who will be playing the huge, prize winning monster? None other than the ridiculously funny Molly Shannon. It is comforting to see Shannon working after her long success on SNL that until recently -- thanks to the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph -- was often times death to a woman's career. I hope to see her in larger roles in the near future. The Weinstein Co. -- still going strong since their split with Miramax in 2005 -- is producing the film and John Cusack will also be starring in another Weinstein Co. produced film later this year. Maybe it's just me, but he's still dreamy even when you can only hear his voice.

Maybe you're related to one or perhaps you just dealt with one at a recent dinner party, but they're all over the place these days: the animal people. The ones who'll throw speeches at you about animal rights this and cruelty-free that -- and if you're someone who really loves chowing down on a cheeseburger or a chicken salad, those folks can sometimes come off as obnoxious, pious and fairly insufferable. But y'know, those people do have their heart in the right place -- and more often than not they're absolutely right about certain important things. What Mike White's Year of the Dog does is give you a little perspective into how an animal lover can transform into a fairly militant activist.

What seems trivial and silly to one person might be really important to another, and who are we to dismiss someone else's fiery passion? Plus, c'mon, who doesn't love dogs? Admirable for the way in which it's both snarky and sincere, Year of the Dog looks and feels like a fairly standard "situation" comedy. Molly Shannon plays a lonely-yet-chipper single woman who is clearly past her romantic prime, and one who spends her nights doting on a beautiful little doggy called Pencil. But when her beloved canine ingests some poison during a late-night pee-pee run, poor Peggy is beside herself with grief. It's a testament to writer/director Mike White's talents that Peggy's miseries are shown as humorously tragic, but also simply, plainly painful.

Odds and ends from a very busy Thursday:

• While I'm not overly excited for David Fincher's Zodiac, I am definitely looking forward to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pic has just added Julia Ormond to its cast for a little reunion of sorts with her Legends of the Fall co-star Brad Pitt. Here, she'll play the daughter of Cate Blanchett's character, a woman who finds herself having to listen to mom go on and on about some dude who ages backwards. Yes, that would be Benjamin Button (Pitt). Man, I am dying to see what Fincher does with this one.
• Rob Corddry (the latest Daily Show correspondent to jump ship and start a movie career) has hopped onboard the new Farrelly Brothers flick, The Heartbreak Kid (aka Seven Day Itch, aka Untitled Farrelly Brothers comedy). Pic stars Ben Stiller as a newlywed who falls in love with another woman while on his honeymoon. Apparently, Corddry will play Stiller's best friend. Also starring in the film are Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman and Carlos Mencia.
• Heck, it's not an animated comedy unless you have 72 actors signed on to provide voices, and the upcoming Igor has just added Jeremy Piven (that's right, he's important enough to start voicing animated characters now) and Molly Shannon. Pic, which is based on the short film of the same name, revolves around the assistant of a mad scientist whose main goal in life is to win first place at the annual Evil Science Fair. The three main actors from the short (Steve Buscemi, John Cleese and Christian Slater) have already signed on to reprise their roles.
• Finally, guess who's back to making good-looking films? If you said Steven Soderbergh, then go ahead and give yourself a gold star. The director's latest film, The Good German, now has a trailer online ... and the thing doesn't look too bad. Perhaps George Clooney should stick to black and white from here on out. Starring Clooney, Tobey Maguire and Cate Blanchett (man, she's everywhere today, huh?), The Good German follows an American journalist who is lured into a murder mystery that involves his former mistress. Is it me, or did Clooney appear to be missing something in that trailer?

Back in March, we reported that ex-SNL Superstar! Molly Shannon was in final talks to star in Mike White's directorial debut, Year of the Dog, taking a role written specifically for her (she and White worked together on the short-lived TV show, Cracking Up, and clearly got along reasonably well). Not surprisingly (since "final talks" usually means "looking for a pen to sign the contract"), Shannon got the gig, and now she's snared some (pleasingly diverse) costars, as well. According to this morning's Hollywood Reporter, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, John C. Reilly and Laura Dern have all joined the cast of the movie, which starts shooting next month.

The film tells the story of Shannon's character, a "happy-go-lucky secretary who lives alone with her beloved dog Pencil." As you might expect, the dog dies, she gets really sad, and lessons are learned. As I said when I first reported this story, that summary makes the movie sounds alarmingly like one of those loathsome "I found a man and am now complete!" stories. But, with a screenplay by White, it's awfully hard to imagine that it will take such an obvious path -- we'll just have to wait for script reviews and set leaks and whatnot to find out what he's got in mind.

Mike White and Molly Shannon worked together in 2004, when she starred in Cracking-Up, a canceled-in-mid-first-season TV series he created. (Here's a direct quote from one of the reviews at the IMDB: "It was terrible. It was like watching an episode of The Simpsons." Wow. That bad, huh?) More than anything else, that fact goes to show that it really is all about connections: Shannon's in final talks to star in Year of Dog, which White wrote with her in mind and will direct.

In the film (White's directorial debut), Shannon will play Peggy, the proverbial single woman who lives alone with her beloved dog (been there, done that). As you might expect, the dog dies and Peggy "embarks on a journey of transformation." Now, if this wasn't a script by White, I would be writing very angry things about how she's surely going to find herself a man and really learn to finally live, through his support and love. But that summary, in the hands of the guy who wrote The School of Rock and Nacho Libre? Man, I have NO idea where it's going - which is both rare, in our world of cliched movies, and a very, very good thing.

It sounds like production will get underway when Shannon gets done with Evan Almighty, in which she's playing a supporting role.