Neil Patrick Harris Planning Directorial Debut With 'Aaron And Sarah'; Josh Hutcherson And Emma Roberts Attached To Star

David O. Russell, the I Heart Huckabees and Three Kings director who recently signed on to adapt the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, has had his name attached to Aaron and Sarah for over a year now. It's one of the many films he's been linked to over the years, most of which have failed to materialize.

Well here's one more you can write off for Russell, as the project has now moved on to... Neil Patrick Harris?

According to Risky Business, that is indeed the case. He plans to make his feature directorial debut with the indie romantic comedy, which centers around "a geeky guy and a popular girl who become friends as freshmen in high school and see their relationship deepen through the four years, four proms and one funeral before graduation."

Harris has made a comeback of late with self-parodic performances in the Harold and Kumar films and a lead role in the TV series How I Met Your Mother. He's since been nominated twice for the Golden Globes, five times for the Emmys, and even won one of those Emmys for his guest spot on Glee. He's also hosted the Emmys and Tonys, and delivered the opening musical number for last year's Academy Awards. Of course, none of this tells us if he can direct, but he's surely attained enough fan appreciation that there are those (myself included) who are eager to see what he can do. (It's should be noted though that he isn't completely without experience, as he did direct an episode of How I Met Your Mother during the show's fifth season.)

Set to star in the film are young up-and-comers Josh Hutcherson and Emma Roberts. Hutcherson most recently played one of the lead kids in the critically lauded The Kids Are All Right, and will next be seen in the Red Dawn remake and alongside Dwayne Johnson in the Journey to the Center of the Earth sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Roberts, meanwhile, just had a film released in the theaters; she stars as the love interest in the indie comedy It's Kind of a Funny Story, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (the duo behind Half Nelson and Sugar). She is also co-starring in Scream 4.

The film comes from a spec script—originally titled B.F.F.—by Chad Gomez Creasey and Dara Resnik Creasey, the former of whom wrote Sidney White, and both of whom have written episodes of Pushing Daisies. It was purchased by Rogue Pictures before entering turnaround and being picked up by 20th Century Fox, but now its producers—who include Sandy Stern (Saved!, Being John Malkovich) and Beau Bauman (Cry_Wolf)—are in need of a new studio home.