Posted on Monday, April 18th, 2011 by Angie Han
You may think you’ve never heard of Matt Walsh, but odds are, you’ve seen his work before. Walsh is probably best known as one of the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and he’s also appeared in supporting roles in tons of films (Elf, Bad Santa, Role Models, Mystery Team, Cyrus, every comedy Todd Phillips has ever done) and television shows (Childrens Hospital, Outsourced, Party Down, Human Giant, Reno 911!, The Daily Show). In short, while he’s not quite as famous as some of his colleagues, it’s safe to say he has a pretty solid comedy resume. Now Walsh is taking on a slightly different kind of role: director. His first feature is High Road, a stoner comedy featuring a bevy of well-known comedians. Watch the red band trailer after the jump.
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Briefly: You’ve got to appreciate a move like this. Jesse Eisenberg is enjoying justified praise for his work in The Social Network, and will very likely score an Oscar nomination in the deal. So what does he do to follow up the film? He signs on to a small-ish indie dramedy called Free Samples.
The film features Jess Weixler (Teeth) as “a law school drop-out who fills in as a server as a friend’s food truck, where she doles out free samples of ice cream. The job tests her patience, and while she figures out what to do with her life, she finds herself being courted by a young man (Eisenberg) whom she barely remembers from the night before.”
The film is in production now. Jay Gammill (Hello, My Name is Charlie) directs from a script by Jim Beggarly, and Jason Ritter (who was in The Education of Charlie Banks with Eisenberg), Tippi Hedren, Hallie Pfeiffer, Keir O’Donnell, Jocelyn Donahue and Matt Walsh fill out the cast.
Jesse Eisenberg will next be seen in 30 Minutes or Less from his Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, and voices a character in the animated film Rio. [The Wrap]
Relativity Media announced today that Peter Farrelly (of the famous comedy directing team The Farrelly Brothers), Brett Ratner, actress Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk and Griffin Dunne (The Accidental Husband) are directing a sketch comedy feature film. More directors are expected to be announced shortly. Originally set up at Overture Films, the yet-to-be-titled comedy project takes a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube. Not much more is known about the premise.
The growing cast includes Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. The producers will announce additional cast members as further deals are solidified, and production will continue thru late May 2010.
I expect that we’ll be seeing more and more movies like this after the success of Valentine’s Day, which was able to cram an impressive ensemble cast into a modestly budgeted romantic comedy. And a Sketch movie allows you to cram even more stars and directors into a two hour feature for a low cost and time commitment. You can read the full press release after the jump.
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