Scott Neustadter Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Back in July, Erik posed the question: Who is Jenny Beckman? Her name popped up in the snarky intro to 500 Days of Summer, and inspired a bunch of questions. Is she the girl on Facebook, a fake name used for comedic value, or a real person who somehow allowed her name to be used?

Most of the mystery has now been answered, folks. Screenwriter Scott Neustadter wrote a post for the Daily Mail called "(500) Days of Summer: Revenge is writing a film about the girl who dumped you," outlining the story behind the story. Yes, there is a girl, who may or may not be called Jenny Beckman. While they didn't work together at a greeting card company (they met at school), he did fall hard, she didn't quite feel the same way, and the pair still tried to make a casual relationship out of the deal.

The intro is a little smidge of hyperbole with its "It is surely the greatest act of revenge in the history of cinema," but it's a good read, and is nice to see how real experiences can be translated to the big screen. Even better, our "What happened next?" curiosity can be satisfied. Neustadter did show her the script, and as he says: "She loved the story, she said. It had surprised and moved her because she really related to Tom. Yes, incredibly, Jenny hadn't recognised herself as Summer at all."

We're about to get yet another cautionary tale for men who might like the barely ripe flesh of just-legal women. The Hollywood Reporter posts that DreamWorks' Montecito has just picked up a new comedy spec called Underage, which was written by Pink Panther 2 scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber. It seems to have been a pretty hot script that a number of buyers were into, before Montecito grabbed it for $500,000 against $900,000.

The premise is simple: a 17-year-old girl is pissed off at her ex, so she seduces a twenty-something guy and blackmails him into her being her beau as an act of revenge. Something tells me that the dude should have checked her ID, and made sure it was real. What I don't get is how this plan works. I assume blackmail comes in because she is underage. So, if she forces this guy to pretend he's her man, presumably under the threat that she'll screw him with statutory rape charges if he doesn't, wouldn't pretending to be her man make it worse, and increase his chances at getting into trouble for his dalliances with this girl? Eh, this is the movies, so I'm sure they wrote their way around that.

We should expect to hear much more from this writing team in the near future. Neustadter and Weber not only collaborated on the next Pink Panther movie, but they're also the pens behind the upcoming Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel comedy, 500 Days of Summer, which Erik mentioned last week.

Growing up, Steve Martin was my favorite comedic actor, no contest. The Jerk, All of Me, The Man With Two Brains, Three Amigos!, Little Shop of Horrors, Roxanne, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood, LA Story, Father of the Bride, Bowfinger...you'd be hard pressed to find someone who's appeared in as many modern classic comedies. And he's obviously still a hilarious man (anyone see him on Letterman last night?). That is why his recent career path is so troubling to me. I can't fault the guy for wanting to make big lazy blockbuster family movies, and obviously there are people who enjoy them. I just wish that one of the greatest comedic minds in film history would take some more chances in his twilight years. I love his novels (read The Pleasure of My Company ASAP), and I adored the film version of Shopgirl, I sincerely hope he can bring us more interesting material like that.

But for right now, we're stuck with Pink Panther 2. Variety has announced the supporting cast, and I must say, it's pretty impressive. The great John Cleese is playing Inspector Dreyfus (perfect casting), memorably brought to life by Herbert Lom in the Peter Sellers films. Also on board are Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, and "The Queen of Bollywood" Aishwarya Rai, often referred to as "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World." The three will play "detectives and experts who join forces with Clouseau to catch the thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world." In addition to the new gang, Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer are returning to their roles. Pink Panther 2 was written by no less than five screenwriters: first-timers Scott Neustadter and Mike Weber, big-time comedy scribes Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (Splash, Parenthood, City Slickers), and Martin himself. Shawn Levy directed the 2006 Pink Panther, Harald Zwart (One Night at McCool's, Agent Cody Banks) will helm this one. Look for Pink Panther 2 just in time for Valentine's Day -- February 13, 2009.

It was probably too much to ask of Hollywood that, just this once, they let propriety win out, and allow the new Pink Panther to die a quiet death. By some miracle, you see, the film made money (the IMDb guesses $140 million worldwide; the budget was about $80 million), and when dollar signs are involved, studio heads have a hard time thinking clearly. So, yes, another Pink Panther is coming. And, yes, Steve Martin is back. Can you stand the excitement? The movie is currently being written by newcomers Scott Neustadter and Michael M. Weber; no word yet on if superstar hack Shawn Levy will find the time to direct the sequel to his zillionth profitable pile of crap.

What's best about this news, though, is that the plot of the movie is being kept tightly under wraps. Um, why? Do they honestly think people care what it's about? Or that anyone buys their "high-concept" claim? Give us a freaking break, Sony and MGM. Go make your movie somewhere quietly, sell it to us suckers, and count your money. But please don't pretend that we're actually interested in the story.