Saturday, January 13, 2007

Ben Stiller's New Film Co-Written By Etan Coen, Justin Theroux And Stiller Himself

Ben Stiller has been planning his next comedy film Tropic Thunder for almost twenty years, so it better be worth it. The script has been written by Stiller, Etan Coen and Justin Theroux. I thought this is the second Joel-less project for Ethan Coen to turn up on this blog in as many days and immediately got to wondering if there is trouble brewing at the house of Coen - then I noticed it was Etan, not Ethan. Etan Coen was a writer on Madagascar. Panic over.

Justin Theroux is most famous, I'd guess, for appearing in Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire and the second Charlie's Angels - but probably most recognised for appearing on posters in the window of Gap.

According to Production Weekly, the premise behind Tropic Thunder is a little wild: actors cast in a big-budget war spectacular end up actually becoming real commandos when 'everything goes wrong'. That really is some screw up if it turns the filming of a movie into a warzone - who's directing this film within a film? David Fincher?

Stiller reputedly cooked up the basic idea when working on Empire of the Sun, but it sounds like there are also trace elements of 1942, Three Amigos and Hearts of Darkness or Apocalypse Now to me.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Ben Stiller is a funny guy but he makes way too many films (and/or participates in way too many). I see ads out now for 'A Night at the Museum', and it doesn't look promising.

Anonymous said...

>>Justin Theroux is most famous, I'd guess, <<

*ahem* Six Feet Under.

Brendon said...

As good or bad as Six Feet Under might be, it's not that well watched, is it?

Or is it?

Anonymous said...

I've heard good things about Night in the Museum from a few different sources.

Six Feet Under had a pretty strong following in the States. Not Sopranos strong, but strong. Of course, Justin wasn't in a lot of episodes. He did play the evil DJ in Zoolander though...