First the good news: Steve Carell and Tina Fey, who I consider two of the funniest people currently on television, are going to star in a film together. It's called Date Night, and it's about a married couple whose attempt at keeping the romance alive leads to an evening of hilarity and merriment and shenanigans and whatnot.

Now the bad news: It's going to be directed by Shawn Levy, whose previous films -- Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, and Night at the Museum -- do not inspire a great deal of confidence. I'm seeing a lot of implausible slapstick and embarrassing pratfalls. I'd like to think Carell and Fey are smart enough to avoid something that will humiliate them -- but I used to think that about Steve Martin, too, and look where we are now.

According to Variety, Date Night came from an idea by Levy and was written by Josh Klausner, who did some writing on Shrek the Third and has worked as a second-unit director on several Farrelly Brothers films. (He also wrote and directed the 1999 thriller The 4th Floor.) Levy is making the Night at the Museum sequel right now, but Date Night will come immediately after that, most likely next summer, when Carell and Fey are both on hiatus from their NBC sitcoms.

Both performers are quick-witted, smart, and adept at improvising. I think their sensibilities mesh well, and I'd love to see them in a film that matched their style. (Ooh, what if Michael Scott visited NBC Studios on one of his New York trips, and ran into Liz Lemon? Would that be cheesy, like when Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes visited Ricky on Silver Spoons? It would be, wouldn't it? Damn.) What do you think: Will Date Night be a good fit? Or is it too soon to tell and we're all just talking out of our butts right now?

If the sequel to Night at the Museum wanted to retain the level of accuracy seen with the original, it would have a Chinese actor playing Russian Czar Ivan IV (aka Ivan the Terrible). But while I'm sure there will still be historical errors abound in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the honor of playing Ivan has gone instead to pale-enough actor/filmmaker Christopher Guest (Best in Show), according to the Hollywood Reporter. And since Guest is actually a far more serious man than you'd expect, despite all those silly mockumentaries he writes and directs, here's hoping he studies his Eisenstein for inspiration.

A bunch of other actors have also joined Ben Stiller in the fantasy film, including Jon Bernthal (World Trade Center) as Al Capone, Bill Hader (Superbad) as General Custer, Alain Chabat (The Science of Sleep) as Napoleon and the franchise's screenwriters, Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, as the Wright brothers. This makes for a very packed cast, considering most of the first movie's co-stars are apparently returning, including Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, Jake Cherry and Patrick Gallagher, the guy who looked all wrong for the part of Atilla the Hun. Other newbies to the series include Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and Hank Azaria as Egyptian pharaoh Kah Mun Rah.

The sequel is currently filming in Vancouver, which seems a bit far away from the actual Smithsonian Institute, but reportedly the production will have access to shoot a few scenes in the actual museum, which is located in Washington, D.C. Maybe it will actually look like it takes place there, too.

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.

Seems like every week we have news of a new Shawn Levy project, but the director's Night at the Museum follow-up is absolutely, definitely going to be ... a "smaller" comedy for Fox Searchlight called The Way Back. (Probably one of those wistful coming-of-age things that probably has something to do with summer camp or defeating a bully or learning how to properly remove a girl's bra without acting like a dork.) According to The Hollywood Reporter the script (as penned by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon) is about a kid who withstands those growing pains during one fateful summer spent in a beach house during in his fifteenth year.

The cynic in me seems to think Levy snagged this smaller (quicker) project while the wheels start turning on that Tom Cruise / Ben Stiller comedy he's set to direct, but that cynic is just remembering how Shawn Levy subjected me to movies like The Pink Panther, Cheaper By the Dozen and Just Married and is still a little cranky about it. Fox Searchlight production chief Claudia Lewis seems pretty ebullient about the whole thing: "He brings such vim and vigor to his comedies ... And this project really hearkens back to some of his earlier work." So it's a coming-of-age comedy that hearkens back to ... Big Fat Liar? Or are we hearkening back as far as Levy's work on Animorphs?

On the plus side, these Rash and Faxon guys have done a lot of work with the Broken Lizard and Reno 911 folks, so they could definitely be very funny guys. There's something positive to focus on.

At least once a day we hear about this or that project being "the next big franchise," but following the disappointing performance of Eragon, it is hard to tell which one(s) will actually pull it off. Despite 20th Century Fox already having a potential series on its hands with Night at the Museum, it has brought on that film's director, Shawn Levy, for another attempt at building a brand of blockbusters. This one is based on another children's fantasy novel, the not-yet-published The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep, which seems to need a new title. Part of an eventual series, the book involves a parallel universe in which things like sleep, weather and memory are designed and manufactured. The plot of the first installment follows a boy who must save this world from a glitch in that world. The script for the movie will be written by the book's authors, John Hulme and Michael Wexler (I guess it will be awhile before the next book then?)

Although Levy is on my list of the worst working directors, he isn't much worse than Chris Columbus, who got the ball rolling with the first two Harry Potter movies. He could very well make another hugely successful fantasy film, as he shockingly did with Museum. But at the same time, he has so many projects in the pipeline right now, including Hardy Men and The Flash, that he probably won't devote enough time to any one project to make it really worth our time and money. If he couldn't respect simple historical facts for Museum like Atilla the Hun's race, then he probably won't bother doing any other preparation for The Seems. I guess with a fantasy world, he doesn't have to worry about making errors, but still.

Director Shawn Levy will helm The Hardy Men, an action-comedy based around the continuing adventures of 'The Hardy Boys' and starring Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller. If this sounds familiar, it's because TMZ.com first broke the story on February 5. The film, which is currently scheduled to go into production in 2008, will be produced by Stiller and his partner Stuart Cornfeld, with Robert Kosberg, who owned the rights to the 'Hardy' series and brought the project to Stiller's company. Variety reports that the film "will be executed in the spirit of Mr. and Mrs. Smith', although its not clear who will be taking on the Angelina role.

The project has been in development for years, and was originally set up at Fox 2000 with a script written by Michael Sargent. It will now be helmed by 20th Century Fox. Variety also reports that Cruise and Stiller are in discussions to co-star in 'Tropic Thunder,' a film that Stiller is directing for DreamWorks. The next project for Cruise is 'Lions for Lambs,' a drama for United Artists, although it seems like TMZ had it right all along -- Cruise and his people have decided that comedy is his road to a comeback.

Take this with a grain of salt, but TMZ.com is reporting that Ben Stiller's next project will be a comedy with Tom Cruise called The Hardy Men, which would take the popular Hardy Boys detective novels and spin them into a 'Hardy Boys finally grow up' kind of comedy, with a lot of action, presumably. The project will be directed by Shawn Levy, helmer of the mega-successful Night at the Museum. "The Hardy Men is primed to go into production come October, and regardless of whether he takes the gig, Cruise clearly sees comedy as means to redeem both his public persona and the box office crown," says TMZ.

Somehow this makes sense to me -- the notion that Cruise would think comedy is a good next move for him. He's been raked over the coals in the press for taking himself uber-seriously with his religious beliefs and his attacks on psychiatry and what-not. This kind of thing sounds exactly like what some highly-paid consultant would recommend for him. There's nothing in the TMZ report about how this might affect the projects Cruise has already lined up for his near future.

Got a question for you comic book folks: If you were producing a movie version of The Flash, who is the man you'd want sitting in the director's chair? The guy who wrote Dark City, Batman Begins and all three Blade movies -- or the man who gave you Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther and Night at the Museum? Well, as Jessica B. told you just a few days ago, the former (David S. Goyer) is out of the picture -- and today we learn that the latter (Shawn Levy) has inherited the gig.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "elements of Goyer's script will be used in the development process," which means a "story by" credit, at best. Also, Mr. Levy apparently has "no intention of making Flash a comedy," but a lighter touch is clearly what's being asked for here. WB doesn't want an angst-ridden and brooding Flash, I guess. And hey, it could be worse; they could have given the project to Joel Schumacher. For this unfamiliar with The Flash, he's the one who can run ultra-super-fast.

When I hear mention of filmmaker Shawn Levy, the first person I think about is Portland film critic Shawn Levy, who once penned a rather amusing article on how they're not the same person. Beyond that, if I give the phrase "filmmaker Shawn Levy" any additional thought I immediately think of Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen and The Pink Panther -- and that just makes me appreciate the other Shawn Levy even more because his output is actually pretty funny. (The director Levy also has Night at the Museum coming up, so he's got at least one more shot at making A good movie.)

Ah, but wait. According to Variety, the Hollywood Levy has just signed a pair of deals, one with Universal to helm an adaptation of Alex Williams' The Talent Thief and one with Fox to direct something called Father Figure, which is being described as a drama with comic elements. (Because we all know how adept Shawn Levy is with those "comic elements.") That one scene in Cheaper by the Dozen when all the kids threw food? Masterful.

Levy is also expected to return to direct a Pink Panther sequel, but not until he gets a look at the final script -- which makes one wonder if he also approved the final drafts of Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen and The Pink Panther.

So basically, one Shawn Levy's career just took a huge leap upwards, while another Shawn Levy's career just got a little bit more difficult.

Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye did a bad, bad thing. He showed his movie Summer Palace at Cannes earlier this year, and he did so without permission from the Chinese government. Now the director is not permitted to make another film in his home country for five years. Sure, for some filmmakers (like Terrence Malick and the late Stanley Kubrick, were he alive), this wouldn't be that horrible a punishment, except that the whole consequence part includes the government's confiscation of the film and seizing of any income it has generated. Lou Ye has already been the victim of a filmmaking ban; he made Suzhou River without the authorization to do so in 2000 and then couldn't make another film for two years. The producer of Summer Palace, An Nai, has also been put on a five-year suspension.

Summer Palace is a sexually explicit film set in 1989 amidst that year's pro-democracy demonstrations, which ended with the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre. And, according to Lou, it is somewhat autobiographical. Now, while you may be happy to not be living in a communist country, like Lou Ye, surely there are some directors out there that you wish could be given such a ban. My pick: Shawn Levy.

[via Fark.com]