When two guys with a dozen episodes of The Office and an upcoming Judd Apatow project between them (that'd be next summer's biblical comedy Year One), I'd be willing to see what else they've got up their combined sleeve. For Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, that sleeve is home to Bad Teacher, the spec script that Columbia just picked up.

According to Variety, the story concerns "a foul-mouthed, gold-digging seventh-grade teacher who's dumped by her sugar-daddy boyfriend and turns her attention toward a colleague. That pits her against a rival who happens to be the school's model teacher." So at the risk of sounding shallow, it sounds like the Bad Santa of all those inspirational teacher movies that Dana Marschz would hold dear -- the prospect of which, by the way, I'm totally down for.

Now, what's going to be most critical here is the casting. At the moment, it's hard for me to not recommend Anna Faris for just about any part, although it'd be interesting to see her take on something a little more crass. What do you guys think? Who would you believe could not only land a job as a teacher, but then keep it in spite of harassing students (in the name of comedy, mind you)?

Above: Rainn Wilson lets his hair down for The Rocker.

Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice. In the movie, directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Grown Monty), Wilson plays a grown-up dolt named Fish with a scary fixation on classic rock. Abandoned by the band Vesuvius in his teens -- before they became a commercial phenomenon -- Fish spends the next twenty years working deadbeat jobs and wishing things happened differently. Naturally, he gets a second chance: When the opportunity rolls around to drum for his nephew's high school, Fish goes for it. Ageism and slapstick humor ensue.

While not exactly a classic, The Rocker proves Wilson has the charisma to carry a movie. The script could use some polishing, but Wilson manages to play a completely dysfunctional human being without ever becoming an annoyance. It's a testament to his skill as an actor with calculated timing. The humor emerges from the naturalism of his performances, which make you believe in the outlandish characters he portrays. In a conversation with Cinematical recently, Wilson elaborated on his particular strategies as his career advances, reminisced about his days as a New York theater actor, and shed some light on a few upcoming projects.

In one of the more inspired viral marketing campaigns that I've come across, um, today, actor Rainn Wilson has apparently taken his co-star from TV's 'The Office,' the lovely and talented Jenna Fischer, hostage in his trunk until his new film, The Rocker, opens to the tune of $18.7 million next week.

Mind you, that's $18.7 million in American dollars, as specified on the initial MySpace ransom post (the Fox-owned MySpace, natch), and Fischer has been promised a peach smoothie for her troubles. Any and all further updates are to be posted instead on the aptly-named blog Free Jenna Now! (the maxim of which is "See a great movie. Save a good person.").

Eric D. Snider reviewed the film at CineVegas, and I can pretty much echo every sentiment he shared then regarding its supposed greatness. Regardless, The Rocker opens on Wednesday, August 20th, while Rainn's trunk opens on Monday, August 25th.

[Thanks to regular reader WW for the tip.]

For those who've been waiting to see Rainn Wilson absolutely rock out in The Rocker, a brand new trailer for the film has just premiered over at Yahoo. Originally, this flick was supposed to hit screens about a month or so ago, but it's since been pushed to August 1 -- and, from the looks of this trailer, I can totally see this being that late-summer comedy hit that builds buzz and ends up doing quite well at the box office. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for 80's drummers who get a chance to win back a piece of stardom by playing their nephew's high school prom.

The Rocker follows Robert "Fish" Fishman (Wilson), a once successful drummer with a prominent '80s hair band who was tossed to the side right when their popularity began to grow. Now, years later, when Fish's nephew needs an extra drummer for his prom band, that dude from The Office steps up to the plate and takes these kids on one helluva wild ride. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. Can Rainn Wilson hold down the fort on this one all on his own?

I think it's fairly safe to say that when Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant get together on a project, the outcome is nothing short of comedic gold. These are the men who brought us the original TV version of The Office, and they're also the guys who dreamt up the very awesome (but no longer around) HBO series Extras. These days, Gervais has officially crossed over to Hollywood, and he's starring in all kinds of films -- his latest being Ghost Town (which he just wrapped) and This Side of the Truth. Now, the BBC tells us that Gervais and Merchant are reuniting once again; this time, as writers on a film script.

As of right now, the working title for the film is The Men at the Pru, and according to the BBC, it's "about a group of 20-somethings in the early 1970s." Gervais notes, "They work for the building society and they're having a great time but it's about them coming of age and having to grow up." The idea of having to grow up is a constant theme in their work, but it will be interesting to see what Gervais and Merchant can do with a screenplay -- a feature film that clocks in at around an hour and a half or so. He adds, "We're really getting excited. We went down to the Prudential headquarters and got all this old footage so we're really getting into it." Gervais has only co-written one script so far, and that's the upcoming This Side of the Truth (which he's also co-directing). This new project will mark the first time the duo has teamed on the script for a feature. Unfortunately, there's no word yet on when The Men at the Pru will be ready for production. My only request is that they please please please give Merchant a starring role. That man is beyond hysterical.

Today, I'm happy to say I achieved one of my many many goals in life: To meet Ricky Gervais and geek out with him over The Office. I couldn't help myself, and when we first sat down for our exclusive interview on the set of his new film Ghost Town, the first thing I said to him was something along the lines of: "I'm such a nerd when it comes to your version of The Office; I could talk to you for three days about that." Thinking Gervais would nod, smile and contemplate stabbing me for bringing up The Office when the guy's been there and done that ages ago, he was surprisingly open and, well, we geeked out ... just a bit. In fact, he said "No worries, I'd talk about that work till the cows come home; I'm very proud of it." I'll have my full interview with Gervais as we get closer to Ghost Town's release date, but I wanted to share just a tiny bit of casting news regarding the highly-anticipated sequel to one of last year's most successful holiday films.

Yes, I'm talking Night at the Museum, and its sequel Another Night, currently scheduled for a 2009 release. Since Gervais was such a big part of the success of that movie (his small role stole the entire show), we were wondering whether he'd show up in part two. According to Gervais, he's (kind of) involved; he said, "Yes, if I can. I've got the script and I really want to do it." We asked if his character is in the script, to which he replied, "Yeah yeah, and I really want to do it. I can't promise yet, because there might be a bit of overlap ... but I really want to do it. I love working with Ben, and I really really enjoyed working with Shawn Levy. He cares about the comedy ... and I want to do it. The answer's yes ... but I'm filming this, then I'm in post-production, then I'm on tour. The answer's yes, though."

Additionally, the series finale for Gervais' successful HBO show Extras airs this Sunday, and when asked why we should watch it, Gervais joked that, because of the writer's strike, it's the only original programming airing on Sunday night. So go watch it! (I guess it's funnier if you're there and listening to his sarcastic British accent ... but try your best to see the humor. Oh, and watch Extras -- it's a blast.)

Have you ever had a co-worker who was so terrible that it seemed like he was planted there just to make you miserable? That seems to be the premise behind Mission: Intolerable, a workplace comedy about a temp agency that hires out a "temp from hell" for companies who'd rather have an unwanted employee quit than have to fire him or her. According to the Hollywood Reporter, comedian Katt Williams (Norbit) is set to take the role as the temp (and founder of the agency, I guess). The movie's plot will focus on one job he's assigned where the employee he's supposed to force out stays his ground and fights back. The idea sounds kinda brilliant, actually, in a slightly derivative-of-The Office-and-Office Space sort of way. Unfortunately, the guy in talks to direct is John Whitesell, maker of such unfunny movies as Malibu's Most Wanted, Deck the Halls, Big Momma's House 2 and See Spot Run.

Also, the script received a rewrite from Malibu's screenwriters Adam Small and Fax Bahr (the original was by Steven List and Astrid Neal), who were also responsible for a number of Pauly Shore comedies. But how hard could it be to make a funny workplace comedy that we can all relate to and enjoy? Enough people hate or are at least annoyed by their jobs that any office-set movie could be appreciable by simply exaggerating the usual terrible and annoying work situations. Maybe a few seasons of NBC's The Office have fully mined the territory, though. It's been awhile since I worked at a job like that, so I have no clue what's funny about offices anymore. Of course, I'm not exactly part of the demographic the movie will be for, anyway. Mission: Intolerable is being produced by The Weinstein Co.'s Our Stories division, which means it will be made intently for black audiences. Actually, that exclusivity just makes me want to try to like the movie more.

Though he still hasn't lined up his next directing gig, Judd Apatow is slowly creating a comedic empire. His latest producing effort, Year One, has added five new faces to its cast -- and The Hollywood Reporter tells us one of those faces just happens to be McLovin himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Joining Mintz-Plasse in the comedy will be Oliver Platt, David Cross, Vinnie Jones and Juno Temple. Production on the film is set to begin this January in Louisiana and New Mexico, with Harold Ramis onboard to direct off a script written by Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (both of whom have written several episodes of The Office). Jack Black and Michael Cera also star.

All we know about the story at this point is that it's a comedy set in biblical times. HR says Platt is in talks to play a platform-shoe-wearing high priest (love that description!), while Jones will tackle the role of a head palace guard named Sargon. No word on who Cross, Temple and Mintz-Plasse will play, though I assume the latter will take on the role of biblical geek? So far Apatow has found success with comedies set in today's world, around characters we can all relate to. It should be interesting to see his group take on a project set in biblical times, though anything with Jack Black and Michael Cera in the lead automatically garners my interest. But here's the big question: Who will Will Ferrell play in a cameo role?

After skyrocketing to big-screen fame while playing the girl-next-door-type on NBC's The Office, Jenna Fischer is itching to do what most actresses fear: nudity. Lots of it. While speaking to MTV, Fischer revealed that she's currently working on her own film, one she's co-writing, producing and -- we imagine -- starring in as well. It's an indie comedy -- or as she calls it, "a real ensemble comedy" -- and while she wouldn't give up a whole lot of details, she did reveal two of the stars: "Boobs! You don't see the whole thing, folks, but there's a lot of the ladies in this film that have been hidden under Pam's sweaters for a long time. I also just think the sort of humor of it [will surprise people]. I think we're used to seeing me a little more confined. And this is, like, a bigger, bolder, brassier part ... with a lot of boobies."

Mmmm, nothing wrong with "a lot of boobies," says the guy whose wife isn't in the room. When asked who else she'd like to see in the film, Fischer responded, "I hope John C. Reilly will star in with me. Because I would actually like to do every single film with John C. Reilly for the rest of my career." There's something we have in common -- I, myself, wouldn't mind seeing John C. Reilly perform in every single film that comes out for the rest of my life. Love the guy. Always have, always will. And if that's her wish, then she's off to a good start: Fischer currently stars opposite Reilly in the musical comedy Walk Hard (due out later this month), and is also working on a comedy called The Promotion opposite -- you guessed it - John C. Reilly. So look for plenty of Fischer, Reilly and boobies at your local cineplex real soon.

UPDATE: Jenna was mis-quoted in the MTV interview; she does not, in fact, get naked in this new indie feature. I repeat: She does NOT go topless. She was referring to her role in Walk Hard, and the fact that she "shows a lot of chest" in the movie. Not her bare chest, mind you, but her chest. Clothed. Sorry guys. But we still love you Jenna!

Prepare to suspend disbelief -- Variety is reporting that Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner will be romancing each other in an upcoming comedy. Only in the movies (and in Beverly Hills) can people on such opposite ends of the attractive-o-meter find love. The indie flick, currently titled This Side of the Truth, is "set in a world where lying doesn't exist." Gervais wrote the screenplay with Matthew Robinson, and the pair will co-direct as well. The screenplay "centers on an Everyman (Gervais) who figures out how to lie and uses his newfound ability to woo a beautiful woman way out of his league (Garner) and become a success at work."

It sort of sounds like a reverse Liar Liar, and I can pretty much guarantee with Gervais so heavily involved, this will be one funny flick. If you're not familiar with RIcky, by all means check out BBC's The Office, the original (and still best) British version of the hit Steve Carell show. Gervais just won an Emmy for his performance on the very funny sitcom Extras, which will air an hour-long Christmas special Sunday, December 16th on HBO (Yay!). Garner of course is Mrs. Ben Affleck, and might just be in the running for a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her work in the terrific upcoming comedy Juno. I speak the Truth.