ReeseWitherspoon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Drugs could make a good girl go bad. Reese Witherspoon, who rose to stardom as a good girl in bubbly comedies Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama before winning an Oscar for the dramatic Walk the Line, will star in and produce Pharm Girl for Universal Pictures. Here's the "bad" part: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, responsible for I Love You Philip Morris but best known for writing the acerbic Bad Santa, "are writing the screenplay and in talks to direct," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It's hard to believe it's been 18 years since Reese debuted as a spunky young teen in Robert Mulligan's evocative The Man in the Moon. In the decade before Legally Blonde, she gave a scorching performance as an incredibly foul-mouthed, rebellious teen in Matthew Bright's super-dark Freeway (which had a biting comic edge), and eventually won wide acclaim in Alexander Payne's superb Election. It would be refreshing to see sweet Reese go dark in her comedy again, after all the lighter humor that's become her trademark.

Reese has a host of other potential projects boiling right now: Alexander Payne's little people flick Downsizing, clone comedy Used Guys, and James L. Brooks' softball romantic comedy. I haven't been too excited by her recent films, whether comic (Just Like Heaven) or dramatic (Rendition), but it was good to hear her distinctive Southern twang in Monsters vs. Aliens, and I'd like to see the Bad Santa boys cook up a twisted, irreverent satire about the "dark underbelly" of the pharmaceutical industry. Would you go see Reese as a bad "pharm girl"?

Now that Robert Rodriguez won't be making Barbarella anytime in the near future it looks like he has put his live-action Jetson's flick at the front of the pack instead. The director recently told MTV that he hopes to get the film in front of cameras by next year. A script was completed by Adam F. Goldberg (Fanboys) back in 2007, but Rodriguez has been hard at work on a rewrite and keeping quiet about casting prospects.

The Jetsons was the story of a futuristic family living in a world run by sprockets ... and that was about it, really. Each week, George Jetson would get fired, promoted, you name it -- and then head home to his family which consisted of the perfect housewife, a genius son and boy-crazy daughter. Their dog would mispronounce words; the robot maid would get a few wisecracks in and voila! A cartoon classic was born.

I'm not a big Jetsons fan, but I do love to play fantasy casting director, so here are my picks for a live-action Jetsons:

George Jetson: Steve Carell
Despite having a spotty record on the big-screen, Carell proved once before that he can walk away from a TV adaptation with his dignity intact. He not only has the look down, but he can play a lovable loser with the best of them and has a knack for physical comedy. What more could you ask for in a George Jetson?

Jane Jetson: Reese Witherspoon
Jane wasn't exactly a ditz, but let's just say she wasn't the sharpest sprocket in the pile either. Witherspoon has made bank on playing these kinds of characters in the past, and I think she has just the right amount of uptight to be the doting wife (and straight man) to her wackier better half.

After the jump: my final picks...

Though it would never ever happen in a million years (we wish and hope and pray), it's still fun to play around with image software to see what a live-action movie based on the animated TV show The Simpsons would look like if it starred a bunch of today's hottest actors and actresses. Australian graphic artist (and Cinematical reader) Brad Anderson created this project as a way to promote his new graphic design business, and I have to say he did a pretty good job finding celebrity images and then tweaking them to fit the Simpsons mold. Can you guess who is who just from looking at the image above? Go ahead and try, I'll give you a moment ...

Give up?

Here's the cast: Homer (George Clooney), Marge (Cate Blanchett), Bart (Ewan McGregor), Lisa (Reese Witherspoon), Maggie (Jennifer Aniston), Otto (Johnny Depp), Krusty (Vince Vaughn), Ned Flanders (William H. Macy), Moe (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Burns (Willem Dafoe), Millhouse (Dustin Hoffman), Mr. Smithers (Stephen Colbert) and Chief Wiggum (Ricky Gervais). We posted the Simpsons family in the gallery below, along with a larger version of the image up top. Head over to Brad's site to view the rest, and throw this guy some business if you're looking for a graphic designer. For the love of god, he's a Simpsons fanboy! Pay the man!

All the way back in 2006, Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey were headed to a future where women not only rule the world, they also "clone and trade men like used cars." Emily Mortimer was going to co-star as a woman whose unease over buying a cloned man leads to love with the cookie cutter Stiller. However, a few days later, the whole thing was scrapped ... but then it was back on the pre-strike priority list. And now, it's back on (again), with a whole new focus.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that the sci-fi comedy has dropped Jim Carrey, and will now star Stiller and Reese Witherspoon. But this isn't a case of sex-changing characters. The project will now focus on Clone Ben, and his relationship with clone owner Witherspoon -- in other words, the character once played by Emily Mortimer. Little Miss Sunshine's Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton are in talks to helm the project, but no writer has been hired yet to change things up.

This makes perfect sense. When the economy is alright, the project is scrapped because it would be way too pricey. The economy tanks, and they decide to pay for a big re-write, and to hire another big-paycheck star. As for the why behind switching this from buddy comedy to romance, THR notes that "Fox hasn't yet successfully mined the new vein of guy-centric comedy," but have fared well with funny flicks aimed at women. Yay. Gotta love when films of the future go back to the stereotypical past. Couldn't this be aimed at us without making the central theme romance? I mean, it is about a women-leading future after all.

Damned if you have a mic, damned if you don't... Coming to you loudly (at least in my case) is the latest episode of The Cinematical Roundtable, and this time, we don't even dare leave the lobby before offering up our thoughts on the rock-'em-sock-'em likes of 12 Rounds, in addition to the week's other wide releases, The Haunting in Connecticut and Monsters vs. Aliens.

Rounding out the proverbial 'we' this week is Brian Orndorf, he of multiple outlets, not the least of which are eFilmCritic and DVD Talk. Also, my good friend Tyler serves as a last-minute substitute for a colleague fallen ill (that, or he just really didn't want to sit through a John Cena flick). He knows his stuff, which I can't say for all in our field, and he happened to be co-anchor of our college movie talk show, "Matinee Idle," which was pretty much a podcast before podcasts were podcasts.

So... yeah. He's good people. Enjoy!




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Some casting news is horrendous, some is good, and just sometimes there's news that seems too good to be true -- like Alexander Payne teaming up with his best stars and making a strangely wonderful-sounding film about downsizing -- not focusing on our rich lifestyles, but rather, our stature.

Variety reports that Payne is finishing up a new script about little people called Downsizing, and he's gotten Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon, and Sacha Baron Cohen to commit. What's this about? Look at the clues -- downsizing, statures, and little people. Oh yes -- Downsizing will focus on people who want to become little people. As the story goes, Giamatti and Witherspoon will play a married couple who don't have a lot of cash and figure they can lead a better retired life as little people. But then the Mrs. decides to pull out, leaving her regular-sized, and Giamatti little. Cohen slips into the mix as twins -- one is a tiny Spaniard, and the other is his normal-sized business partner (a role that might evolve as the script heads to completion).

I'll forgive the continuation of the male Hollywood fantasy (Giamatti and Witherspoon, really?), and focus on the fact that both actors excel in the world of Payne. Add to that the fact that this is NOT an animated film, but rather a movie that relies on special effects, and how can he go wrong? In a world where every fantastical story gets animated, I'm loving the idea of a live-action, special effects-laden Payne world, and just hoping Lily Tomlin gets a cameo.

Anyone else really loving this idea?

Oh, Breckin Meyer, what happened to you? In the '90s, things were going well. You got a little Clueless, got mixed up in The Craft, led Lovebürger -- all sorts of successful teen fare. But then ... Road Trip got you on the wrong highway until you were suffocating in projects like Herbie and Garfield.

If it wasn't for his animated gigs, I don't know what would've happened to Meyer. But now Production Weekly says he's turned to scriptwriting -- penning the Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan-created Superguys. They say: "think Ocean's 11 with idiots set at Comic-Con." Man, Con is hot right now. Anyway, this reunites Meyer with the duo who created Can't Hardly Wait. Could this mean something good? Maybe? Or am I just fooling myself with hope?

Meanwhile, the much more successful Clueless alum Paul Rudd has a new gig lined up. He and Owen Wilson are in talks to star in Reese Witherspoon's latest romantic comedy. Yes! Should these talks work out, Wyatt Trips and Ivy Miller will be reunited! (Monsters vs. Aliens doesn't really count.) The untitled feature would pit Paul and Owen against each other to grab Reese's heart -- Paul as a "white-collar executive" and Owen as "a professional baseball pitcher."

Please. There's no way Mr. Wilson can come between the spazzy loves of Overnight Delivery. Actually ... this is probably a bad idea because I love that movie so much that it'll just leave me with ridiculously high expectations. I'd want snarky Reese, great Kevin Smith-influenced dialog ("It's no Jesus walking on water, I give it a six."), and most definitely at least one scene of classic, wacky Rudd dancing.

Reese and Paul might want to remove their last project from our memories, but I will clutch to it 'til the end!

Last November, Warner Bros. released Fred Claus, a Christmas-set comedy pairing up lead Vince Vaughn with Rachel Weisz.

This November, New Line released Four Christmases, a Christmas-set comedy pairing up lead Vince Vaughn with Reese Witherspoon.

Mere coincidence, you might ask, despite the fact that New Line is owned by Warner Brothers, not to mention the shared initials of both the titles and the actresses playing the love interests? Perhaps, but happenstance loses my vote when the best one can say for Four Christmases is that it's a marginally better holiday romp than the likes of Fred Claus.

Tonight (we hope), the longest and hardest-fought Presidential campaign in recent memory finally comes to a close. To celebrate, we've assembled a list of the seven most memorable political campaign workers in the past 50 years of movies. We've got office staff members, campaign managers, and the candidates themselves, each one giving their all in the most important campaign of their lives.

1. Robert Redford, The Candidate

Redford plays activist and staunch idealist Bill McKay, son of the former governor of California, who reluctantly enters the race for Senator with little chance of winning, all so he can speak out honestly on "the issues." As his popularity and support grows, so do the temptations and pressures to compromise his beliefs. My favorite scene comes deep in the campaign when McKay goes a little nuts in the back seat of a car speeding to a TV station. Repeating his slogan over and over, he's so exhausted that all he can do is laugh hysterically. Peter Boyle and Allan Garfield play his equally memorable political operatives.

2. Warren Beatty, Bulworth

What is it about California that makes Senators go nuts? Up for re-election, California Senator Jay Bulworth (Beatty), no longer wishing to live, decides he can finally speak the truth instead of campaign rhetoric, making for a racous series of politically incorrect adventures. Beatty, of course, had previously made Shampoo, in which he spent Election Day in 1968 running around Los Angeles putting out romantic and business fires, but he outdid himself with Bulworth.

Feel that chill in the air? That's because you left the kitchen window open -- go on, I'll wait -- but that secondary chill you're feeling would be the multiplex yuletide season turning in our direction, ready and waiting to melt the bleep out of your heart. Last year, it was This Christmas and The Perfect Holiday begging to be mistaken for one another (in title, not in quality).

This year we've got at least two winter-themed family-minded dramedies waiting in the wings. First out the gate is Nothing Like The Holidays (the trailer's now up at Apple), in which a Hispanic-American family gathers for what might be their last Christmas spent together. Sooooo ... it's basically This Christmas, with the casting emphasis on a different minority. However, for all that film's familiar beats, I found myself surprisingly won over, so here's to hoping that something similar might come of Holidays on November 21st.

In the other corner, we have Four Christmases, in which Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon find themselves shuffling off to visit each of their parents on X-Mas Day. If this (embed-less) TV spot on YouTube is any indication, Vaughn's creaky neurotic shtick and infant spewage will be par for the course, not to mention the last thing I might expect to come from the non-doco directorial debut of Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). As the Hollywood gods have decreed it, Christmases is set to open just before Thanksgiving on November 26th. Ah, the smell of leftovers...