michael meredith Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The latest Wim Wenders (produced) film, The Open Road, was sounding pretty decent back in February, when Jeff Bridges, Justin Timberlake, and Mary Steenburgen signed on. Now it's gotten even better -- The Hollywood Reporter has posted that both Lyle Lovett and Harry Dean Stanton have joined the cast. I just wish that Wim was heading this feature, since the last time that both Stanton and Wenders were on the same project, it was in the great film Paris, Texas back in 1984. This time around, writer/director Michael Meredith gets the honor (he did write Wenders' Land of Plenty, so this isn't out of left field).

The film is a reconciliation tale that focuses on a man (Timberlake) who is trying to reconcile with his former sports pro father (Bridges) as they head to his ailing mother's bedside. As Christopher Campbell noted back in April of 2007, there's also a girlfriend in the road trip mix. THR says that Kate Mara is the other player in this film, so I imagine she's Justin's love interest. As for Lyle and Harry -- the former plays a Memphis bartender who "lends a helpful ear" to Timberlake's character, while the latter will play his grandfather.

After his creepy stint as Roman Grant in Big Love, it will be nice to see him as a grandfather who isn't some gangster-like Mormon. Then again, maybe he is, but that'd be a totally different sort of story. Production is currently underway in Louisiana.

When 'N Sync was prancing around the stage in the late '90s, did anyone imagine that one of the dudes would become a pretty successful actor in less than 10 years? I mean, I'm sure Jeff Bridges didn't see Justin Timberlake on the boob tube and say: Gee, that kid should play my son in something! It's as weird as watching Ronnie Regan in his movies and imagining that he'd become President. NOTE: I am, in no way, suggesting Justin will turn to politics -- I'm just noting surprising career moves.

Anyway, Variety reports that Timberlake is about to head on The Open Road with Bridges, the comedy drama that Christopher Campbell first blogged about almost a year ago. Under filmmaker Wim Wenders' watchful eye, writer Michael Meredith will direct his own script. This was going to be a reunion for the Land of Plenty crew, but unfortunately, it seems that cinematographer Franz Lustig has been replaced by Yaron Orbach.

Road is a reconciliation tale about a young man who reconnects with his dad, "a legendary athlete, as he struggles to get him home to his ailing mother's bedside." While the parts aren't specifically laid out, I imagine Bridges is the dad, Timberlake the son, and Mary Steenburgen is the mom. Initial reports also described a girlfriend on the trip, but there is no word about that role in this latest bit of news. This could be at least partly autobiographical, as Meredith's dad is ex Cowboys QB Don Meredith, but for this film, the sports figure is a baseball legend. Personally, I'm interested in seeing how Meredith handles the comedic aspects since Land of Plenty was all sorts of somber -- good, but somber. The film is scheduled to slip into production in Louisiana later this month.

It has been a couple years since Wim Wenders' last feature film (Don't Come Knocking), as the director has been busy working on shorts for three different compilations (including the Cannes showcase, To Each His Cinema). And now it appears that instead of immediately heading back to a full-length of his own, he will be very closely producing Michael Meredith's second feature, Open Road. Meredith wrote Wenders' Land of Plenty and previously directed the little-seen 3 Days of Rain, an interlocking of six Chekov adaptations, which starred his father, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith, and Peter Falk, who also starred in Wenders' best film, Wings of Desire.

The film is a father-son reconciliation tale (after The Thing About My Folks, also starring Falk, I could do without another) about a man who heads out on a road trip with his girlfriend and his estranged father, a former sports pro. Although this sounds like it could be autobiographical, the father in the film will be a baseball legend, not a football legend. Still, even if the elder Meredith is not cast in the role, it will be easy to make the assumption. As an added attraction for sports fans, there is a chance that real baseball legends, such as Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench, will have cameos. Wenders is apparently holding Michael Meredith's hand on the film, serving as a visual consultant and seemingly a liason to German cinematographer Franz Lustig, who shot Land of Plenty and Don't Come Knocking. The collaboration should begin shooting this summer in Louisiana.