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.

If I wasn't already sold on Ricky Gervais' comedy, This Side of The Truth, then this picture alone would convince me to shell out my hard earned dollars -- and keep in mind, I don't normally say that kind of thing about a film starring Jennifer Garner and Rob Lowe. Over at Gervais' production blog, the comedian has posted some new photos from his film about a writer who invents the art of lying. Gervais has always been a big fan of all things web-related, including his massively successful podcast series, and various blogging endeavors. So to be expected, Gervais has been pretty consistent with updates, with only a few of his trademark diversions here and there.

Truth was written by Matthew Robinson and Gervais, and the cast includes a nice helping of comedic heavyweights. Monika already brought us the news about Christopher Guest and Tina Fey signing on. The two will be joining Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hodgman, and Louis C.K. in what is shaping up to be what I would call a comedy 'dream team'. This is Gervais' first attempt at directing a feature film, and according to reports coming off the set, everyone is having a fine old time. Filming will wrap in the next couple of weeks, and then Gervais is off to England to put the final touches on the film.

This Side of the Truth will arrive in theaters in 2009.

Great day in the morning! Two of my favorite actors on the planet are joining the cast of Sam Mendes' increasingly promising 2009 comedy, which has yet to find a title. According to a Focus Features press release that landed in my inbox, Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara will round out an ensemble that already includes John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Toni Colette, Cheryl Hines and Allison Janney. The screenplay was co-written by McSweeney's founder and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers and novelist Vendela Vida. The film "follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family."

O'Hara is probably the funniest woman on the planet, and Daniels can bring heart and humanity to any film, so this is good news indeed. With Christopher Guest taking a break from making the movies that have been her bread and butter over the years, O'Hara can use the high-profile work; her only screen appearance this year or last has been in the underrated Penelope.

Mendes also has the DiCaprio-Winslet reunion movie Revolutionary Road in the works -- it will headline the 2008 Oscar season -- but this new project will be his first stab at comedy. Eggers co-wrote the adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are with Spike Jonze, which should finally see the light of day next year as well.

I was drawn into this whole story by the thought of Tina Fey, but be still my comedic heart, she's not the only one involved. As Jessica posted earlier this month, Ricky Gervais has a blog for his upcoming comedy, This Side of the Truth, and he's just announced the final casting. He writes in an entry: "We are trying to avoid the 'Hollywood actor look'. No botox, perma-tans, or unfeasibly white teeth..."

Who could that mean for casting? Well, there's a short little blip that says Tina Fey and Christopher Guest have signed on, along with Jeffrey Tambor and John Hodgman (The Daily Show). This flick sounded good, but now it's downright irresistible! While I would rather have Guest do more mockuwonders, I won't pass up the chance to see him reunite with Gervais, with a helping of Fey, Tambor, and Hodgman. And, we can't forget the already-cast players -- Louis CK, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, and Jennifer Garner.

Just the thought of these actors taking on Gervais's deceit-creating character... Are there any of you out there who are not itching to see this now?

[via Empire]

Stop using that YouTube account for good for evil to upload copyrighted material. It will probably just be taken down anyway. Instead, use the web video site to spotlight your own talents with an original program you write, direct and/or star in. Besides the fact that you might acquire an audience and possibly some fans, there's now a chance that Hollywood agents will sign you up for bigger and better things.

In the 1980s, Hollywood supposedly looked at MTV for potential new clients -- this was spoofed in Christopher Guest's first Tinseltown parody, The Big Picture. (Would producers really have been interested in that horrible "Pez People" music video? I doubt it). In the late 1990s, the internet became a new place for agents to scan, as sites like iFilm showcased and popularized new short films. Remember the hype over 405? Well, its filmmakers haven't really blown up yet, but another buzzed-about internet filmmaker, Joe Nussbaum (George Lucas in Love), did break into Hollywood and has been somewhat successful (making teeny-bopper comedies, anyway).

Getting on MTV was often expensive, though, and most early shorts on the internet (the quality ones anyway) also cost a good amount. The thing about YouTube, however, seems to be that anybody can produce a cheap video and put it up for everyone, Hollywood included, to see. The Guardian has an article up this weekend about the new online unit of the United Talent Agency. The plan is not only to find the next big thing for TV and feature film work, but also, as UTA's Head of Digital Media, Brent Weinstein, puts it, to find ways to help internet talent, "monetise their interests and pursuits online." Weinstein doesn't exactly say what online outlets exist for such profits, though.

Note: This review originally ran during the Toronto International Film Festival. It is being run again in conjunction with the film's limited release this weekend. For Your Consideration opens in wider release November 22. - ed.

With his films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, director Christopher Guest took the mockumentary approach he used in This Is Spinal Tap and brought it to a whole new generation. Guest assembled a cast of remarkable talent in Guffman, including Michael McKean (with whom Guest has worked for some 40 years), Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey, and worked with the same cast (adding some new talent along the way, including the spectacularly funny Jennifer Coolidge and perfectly deadpan Jane Lynch, building an almost unbeatable ensemble of comedy.

Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind all took the mockumentary approach, dealing, respectively, with a play in a small town, an eclectic group of characters taking part in a national dog show, and the reunion of 1960s folk singers for a concert. Guest's previous three films with this ensemble worked, not just because of their mockumentary style, but because of the brilliance and energy of the cast, who worked improvisationally, with very little script. With his latest effort, For Your Consideration, Guest and co-writer Levy break away from the mockumentary mold to take a narrative approach, while still retaining the improvisational freedom that give the cast the room to make their characters their own.

Just in case you missed them the first time around, here's a round-up of what we (and you!) have been talking about on Cinematical this week:


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More, much more, after the jump ...

The latest in the vdubrocks campaign ads features one of my fave directors, Christopher Guest, reprising his This is Spinal Tap character, Nigel Tufnel. You can check out Nigel rocking it out in his highly fashionable kilt, black tshirt, tube socks and sneakers, while standing on (and falling off of) the roof of a white Jetta rising up from the stage, while white Rabbits mark the four corners of the stage. The first ad in the campaign featured U2s Slash** rocking the casbah with black GTIs set up like amp stacks. Personally, I think its hilarious that they've brought Nigel, a fake musician, out of the vaults for this campaign.

Watching Nigel rock it out in the ad, I couldn't help but think ... wouldn't it be cool for Guest to bring Spinal Tap back for a new mockuementary about the aging rock-and-rollers getting together for a reunion show for VH1? I can't be the only person out there who would love to see Tufnel, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) bringing it on again, right? The "band" reunited a couple of times in the past, in 1992 for the album Break Like the Wind, for which they did a promo tour and "videos", in 1998 for a short film called Spinal Tap: The Final Tour, in 2000 when they launched a mock website called "Tapster," and in 2001 for a "Back From the Dead" tour that spanned nine cities. Oh, and there was a 2004 documentary about the band as well.

But seriously -- we've had Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Isn't it about time we saw Spinal Tap back on the big screen -- utilizing the rest of the of Guest's fab ensemble cast? Picture Catherine O'Hara and Jennifer Coolidge as aging groupies! Parker Posey as, say, Nigel's daughter -- or better yet, as a younger groupie competing against O'Hara for the band's attention. And while we're at it, how about Guest in duel roles? He could reprise Corky St. Clair as the director of the reunion show! Oh, the possibilities are endless. Who else out there would love to see Guest bring back Spinal Tap?

[ via our sister site, Autoblog ]

**SIncerest apologies to both Slash (who, as our readers pointed out, is from Guns 'n Roses, NOT U2, and to The Edge, who IS from U2, for my error there. And thanks to our readers for pointing it out. And yes, I grew up on both bands, and yes, I know better. Shame, shame on me. I guess I have to give back my cool 1980s jean jacket covered with safety pins and rock band buttons now, along with my hip collection of U2 and GNR cassette tapes. Darn. -KV

The UK's Times Online has an interesting piece up about great Hollywood director-muse partnerships, from John Wayne and John Ford, to George Cukor and Katherine Hepburn, to Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullman. As the article's author Ian Johns notes, these kinds of filmmaker-actor partnerships are less common these days, as directors have a wider array of big-name stars to choose from. Yet, there are still some profitable and creative partnerships out there. Martin Scorsese appears to have moved on from this 1970s and '80s pairing with Robert DeNiro to his modern creative muse, Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he has made Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and now The Departed, with a fourth partnership -- a film about Theodore Roosevelt -- reportedly in the works. Russel Crowe and Ridley Scott worked together first in The Gladiator, then most recently in this year's TIFF offering A Good Year, and they went straight from that into shooting American Gangster together.

Johns goes on to make mention of Pedro Almodóvar's ensemble cast in Volver, where the director featured his favorite muse of the moment, Penelope Cruz alongside Carmen Maura, whom he directed in the 1980s. He doesn't mention my favorite director/ensemble combo of the moment, Christopher Guest and his amazing repeat performers, including Eugene Levy (with whom Guest also co-writes), Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Michael McKean and Parker Posey, to name only a few. So pivotal are these actors to Guest's latest films that I can't imagine him making a film without them at this point. They work together with an incredible ease that makes the improvisational style of Guest's films really work.

The article does give props to one of my favorite director/actor pairings: François Truffaut and his on-screen alter-ego, Jean-Pierre Léaud. One of the greatest joys of watching movies in my cinematically geeky life has been watching Léaud grow from boy to man as Antoine Doinel, starting in 1959's The 400 Blows, the film that first earned Truffaut respect at Cannes, when Léaud was just 15, through 1979's Love on the Run -- a 20-year run of great filmmaking. Leaud worked with other directors as well, of course, including Jean-Luc Godard, with whom he made 10 films, including Week End in 1967 and, nearly 20 years later, Détective in 1985, but nothing ever quite matched the magic of Léaud with Truffaut.

Who are some of your favorite director-actor pairs? And who would you like to see work together more?

With his films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, director Christopher Guest took the mockumentary approach he used in This Is Spinal Tap and brought it to a whole new generation. Guest assembled a cast of remarkable talent in Guffman, including Michael McKean (with whom Guest has worked for some 40 years), Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey, and worked with the same cast (adding some new talent along the way, including the spectacularly funny Jennifer Coolidge and perfectly deadpan Jane Lynch, building an almost unbeatable ensemble of comedy.

Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind all took the mockumentary approach, dealing, respectively, with a play in a small town, an eclectic group of characters taking part in a national dog show, and the reunion of 1960s folk singers for a concert. Guest's previous three films with this ensemble worked, not just because of their mockumentary style, but because of the brilliance and energy of the cast, who worked improvisationally, with very little script. With his latest effort, For Your Consideration, Guest and co-writer Levy break away from the mockumentary mold to take a narrative approach, while still retaining the improvisational freedom that give the cast the room to make their characters their own.