mike thompson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Variety is reporting that Jennifer Aniston will team up with Aaron Eckhart for a new drama called Traveling. In it, Aniston will play "a floral designer who works in a Seattle hotel where a charismatic self-help guru (Eckhart, I presume) is conducting a weekend seminar on coping with grief." As the two get closer, Aniston's character helps the guru, a widower who hasn't fully dealt with his wife's death, realize he's not practicing what he preaches. I'd imagine there's a lot of crying and hugging. That description isn't exactly setting off fireworks in my brain, but you never know. The film will be the directorial debut of Brandon Camp, who wrote the screenplay with Mike Thompson. Camp and Thompson also wrote the Kevin Costner vehicle Dragonfly, also about dealing with the loss of a wife.

I feel like Aniston is a pretty limited actress, but when she gets a role in her comfort zone, I dig her. I think she's solid in any film where she's playing an unsatisfied or unhappy women. Think The Good Girl, The Break-Up, Friends with Money, and the American classic known as Office Space. If she's in straight-up romantic comedies I can give or take her. I still remember the first time I saw Eckhart, in Neil LaBute's vicious, nasty, wonderful In the Company of Men. I thought he was so excellent in that, and it's been interesting watching Hollywood try to wedge him into leading man roles when he's really better suited to be a character actor. I guess he's just a bit too attractive. It's the same way with Mark Ruffalo, whenever I see him in something like the atrocious Rumor Has It, I just cringe, because everyone involved seems to know that's not what he should be doing. Anyway, I'm rambling. Think you'll be Traveling to see this new one?

Hollywood is going a bit guru-crazy these days. Erik Davis has already alerted you to Mike Myer's concept about the Indian self-help relationship guru named Pitka -- a new character who is sure to be all sorts of crazy in typical zany Myers fashion. Now Variety is reporting about another guru-themed picture, one that's sure to be a little more down-to-earth and just a smidge more serious. The feature in question is Traveling, a Stuber/Parent flick marking the directorial debut of writer Brandon Camp, who wrote the script with writing partner Mike Thompson -- the guys behind Kevin Costner's Dragonfly.

The best part about this news -- the film is set to star Aaron Eckhart in what I consider spot-on casting. Traveling is about a widower who writes a book about grieving. It becomes a phenomenon and subsequently turns him into a charismatic self-help guru. However, he then falls for a woman at one of his seminars and is faced with the fact that he hasn't actually gotten over his loss. Really, is there anyone out there better suited for the role? Eckhart's stint in Thank You For Smoking was the same thing, but without the guise of self-help -- a charismatic guy who is really good at convincing people of things whether they are true or not. Considering his roles in Conversations with Other Women and Black Dahlia, he should also be able to handle the angst of this character with ease. The whole death question is also old hat for the writing team, so I imagine the project should flow quite nicely. It will start shooting in 2008.