RogerMichell Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The cast for the cheekily titled Morning Glory (aka "that film where Harrison Ford is going to try and be funny!") really is shaping up nicely. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they've nabbed themselves the second Nite Owl, Patrick Wilson.

"The film that Ford is going to try and by funny in" centers on an up-and-coming news producer played by Rachel McAdams. She has to save a struggling morning show, and get its antagonistic anchors (Ford and Diane Keaton) under control.

Trying to save McAdams from losing the will to live is Wilson, who will play her boyfriend. While Wilson is clearly trying to earn some comedy cred (Morning Glory is the third comedy he's signed for, he's also got The Baster and Barry Munday in the works),
I sincerely hope there's a little more to his part than just "the boyfriend." Wilson is quite talented, and playing a boyfriend, even to McAdams, seems like a waste of his charm. Then again, how many actresses have been stuck in such a thankless part? Maybe the tide is turning.

There really is a lot of talent here on both sides of the camera: Roger Michell is directing from a script by Aline Brosh McKenna, and J.J. Abrams is producing with his Bad Robot banner. Let's hope they can bring us a film of the witty, fun Ford (yes, he does exist) and not another Hollywood Homicide.

He's faced angry Nazis, villainous Russians, and lots of space baddies, but is Harrison Ford any match for a determined Rachel McAdams? The Hollywood Reporter posts that Ford has grabbed the starring role in Morning Glory, while McAdams is in final negotiations. This one is the brainchild of Aline Brosh McKenna, which Paramount grabbed back October of 2007, and put Venus helmer Roger Michell in the directorial chair.

Glory is a comedy that focuses on a "grizzled old-school anchor in the Ted Koppel mold" who is fed up with the incessant and increasing gossip on his evening newscast. (Aren't we all?) He quits, only to get pulled back into the fold by "a hot up-and-coming producer" (McAdams). But it's not for a new, gossip-free take on the evening news. Instead, he gets paired with his rival to help revive a morning talk show.

It's been a whopping 13 years since Ford has starred in a comedy. Time flies when you're an action star! But methinks that he'll slip back into the world of laughs easily. But what about McAdams? Is she a good match for ol' Indy? THR notes that Reese Witherspoon was once in talks for the role, so who would you prefer?

A few weeks ago a DVD of Laurent Cantet's 2000 film Human Resources arrived on my doorstep. I hadn't seen it, but it rung a bell for me, and it took me a little while to remember: the Shooting Gallery series! I couldn't believe I had forgotten about it. It was a huge event in less-than-400-screen lore, successful as well as artistically daring. I poked around and discovered that this brave little distributor had -- of course -- gone out of business. In 2000 and 2001, the Shooting Gallery lined up three series of six movies each, releasing each one for a two-week period, usually on a specific movie screen in selected cities, and then replaced it with the next in the series. If something took off and became a hit, it could play longer. I didn't see all the films, but there were some amazing entries, and certainly some films that otherwise would never have seen the light of day.

The first series unfolded in the spring of 2000. The quirky, dreamy, black-and-white comedy Judy Berlin, starring a then up-and-coming Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), came first. It didn't exactly break any box office records, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has a small following today. Next up came Peter Mullan's Orphans, which I didn't see, followed by Such a Long Journey, which was yet another story from India about an old-fashioned father balking at the ways of his modern children, but beautifully realized. (The great character actor Om Puri was on hand for a supporting role.) Southpaw was a snappy little boxing documentary about promising Irish fighter Francis Barrett. The sixth film, from Japan, was Adrenaline Drive, a kind of crime story crossed with a drawing room comedy. It seemed ripe for an American remake, which never came.

Some might say that women shouldn't head films, but Paramount's looking for some female-headed Morning Glory. Variety reports that Roger Michell has signed to direct the upcoming comedy, which is being written by Aline Brosh McKenna. Set in New York City, the movie will focus on "a struggling female news producer and the iconic, temperamental anchorman she recruits to revive a failing network morning show." There's no "rom" listed before the "com," so maybe this isn't one of those fighters-turned-lovers stories, although it really sounds like it will be. Paramount is trying to get the project, which has insidiously put Oasis into my head, up and running for production this spring.

Now, whether your tastes match the work of director Michell or writer McKenna, this pairing should spell at least decent success for the production -- if they stay on their current trajectories. Michell is the director of Persuasion, Notting Hill and the recent critical hit, Venus. McKenna has gone from forgettable flicks like Three to Tango and Laws of Attraction to the wildly-popular The Devil Wears Prada and the upcoming Katherine Heigl romcom, 27 Dresses. Beyond this comedy, Michell is also set to direct The Rip, a thriller for Universal, and McKenna has a number of projects in development.