Casting Notes: Ryan Reynolds Cross-Dresses, Chris Messina In Shyamalan-Penned 'Devil'

Couple of quick casting notes for you today. First up, Working Title yesterday paid a lot of money for a pitch from Allan Loeb to write an as-yet untitled comedy for Ryan Reynolds. The film is a "dude-in-drag romantic comedy, with Reynolds playing a jilted lover who must disguise himself as a woman and befriend his ex in order to win her back." Had to happen sooner or later, really. All manly actors have to prove their mettle not by blowing away a bunch of other manly actors, but by wearing a dress. But if Wesley Snipes can do it, and Terence Stamp can do it, then why not Ryan Reynolds? Watch this one as a double-feature with Buried to see just how much range Reynolds has got. [Variety]

After the break, new casting for Devil, the film M. Night Shyamalan wrote for Quarantine writers John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle to direct.

We don't yet know much about Devil, but the trade report pegs the newly-cast Chris Messina as a sobered-up homicide detective. Oh, good. That gives us a lot to go on. We know that Shyamalan wrote the story and co-wrote the script with Brian Nelson. The film starts shooting in Toronto a week from Monday, and that's all we've got. It's tightly under wraps, and has been for a while. Which, I suspect, really means that there's some info out there that we haven't dug up yet.

Devil is the first film in Shyamalan's 'Night Chronicles' deal, which partners him with Media Rights Capital to produce one genre film a year from 2010 until 2012. Meanwhile, Shyamalan is still in post on The Last Airbender, the film that I suspect will prove to be a fairly serious box-office success next year, if the massive fanbase for the source anime series is any indication. [Variety]