gentlemen broncos Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Although it doesn't open until next year, it appears that the viral marketing machine is already cranking away in the name of Gentlemen Broncos, with the appearance of this thorough website for the film's antagonist, Cluster Award-winning author Dr. Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement, perhaps better known as one-half of New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo, Flight of the Conchords).

In the provided videos and audio snippets, Clement portrays Chevalier as a third-rate Orson Scott Card with the voice of Orson Welles, and I've little trouble believing that he would both fit into the eccentric world of filmmaker Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) and lift a story from a young fan (Michael Angarano) out of desperation.

Also starring Sam Rockwell and Jennifer Coolidge, Broncos is currently in post-production, but given the rough timetable and unique pedigree at play, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we finally find out what the title means come Sundance next January ...

[Thanks to Matt Dentler for the heads-up.]

Imagining the sort of roles Jennifer Coolidge takes on, from being a randy MILF in American Pie, to her wacky gigs with Christopher Guest, there's all sorts of ways you can imagine her tackling a film called Gentlemen Broncos. However, this is that kid writer movie, and The Hollywood Reporter posts that she's signed on to play the mom once again.

Word about the feature first broke in December, when it was announced that Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess would head back to high school for the film about a teen outcast who goes to a camp for writers and gets his fantasy novel, Yeast Lords, ripped off by a famous novelist, Ronald Chevalier. Then we got the first players -- Michael Angarano (Almost Famous, Sky High) signed on to play the geeky kid, Sam Rockwell grabbed a character in some "book-come-to-life sequences under two guises: one in the teen's story and one in the author's story," and Jemaine Clement took on the jerky, desperate-for-ideas author Chevalier. Now we've got Coolidge as Angarano's mom, and since the film is in production, I'd say casting is probably complete.

Between all the people involved, and the fact that Mike White is a producer, I imagine that this will be one sweet, geeky comedy.

Jared Hess loves exploring the nerds, geeks, freaks, outsiders, and weirdos of the world, and God bless him for that. The outcasts are always far more interesting than the cool kids. Hess kicked off his career with Napoleon Dynamite, and if you can measure a film's popularity by how often people quote its dialogue, then Napoleon is one of the most beloved films in recent years. He followed Napoleon up with the less favorably received Nacho Libre. I think the problem most people had with Nacho is that they weren't expecting it to be a kids' movie, but I kind of dug it. It was certainly an original, and had some great visuals. Now Joblo has the scoop on his next project -- Gentlemen Broncos.

From Bronco's description and lead character (a high school outcast), it seems Hess is aiming to recapture that Napoleon magic. The film will focus on "an aspiring fantasy author. He attends a fantasy convention to show off his work and finds his supposed masterpiece - Yeast Lords - ripped off by legendary novelist Ronald Chevalier, who has turned desperate for ideas." It sounds pretty funny to me, and the whole Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings fanboy world should certainly provide Hess with ample comedy ammunition. And since his mockery tends to be pretty sweet-natured, I doubt he'll alienate those fans. No word on casting, but I wouldn't expect huge names -- it seems he'll be doing Broncos as a pretty indie affair. As with his previous films, Hess will direct and co-wrote the script with his wife, Jerusha. Sweeet.