MTV has reported that Jay Roach-helmed project Dinner with Schmucks has officially got the greenlight and a new cast: Paul Rudd and Steve Carell.
Dinner with Schmucks was previously put on hold after Paramount and DreamWorks announced their separation and the film’s lead actor Sacha Baron Cohen dropped out of the project.
Originally a 1998 French film called Le Diner de cons, Dinner with Schmucks centers on a group of men who have a weekly habit of having a dinner party and inviting the most pathetic and idiotic guests they can find. After finding the most pathetic and stupid man of all, one of the party’s organizers suffers a back injury, leaving him trapped with the idiotic man all night.
Roach is most known for directing Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and the Austin Powers series. He recently directed made-for-TV movie Recount, in which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and Outstanding Direction for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special.
Rudd and Carell just recently signed on to several projects. Rudd co-starred with Jason Segel for I Love You, Man, which opens March 20th, and will be featured in this year’s Monsters vs. Aliens as well as The Year One. Carell just signed on for Hi-T, a comedy about a man who suffers side effects after injecting testosterone after an injury occurs.
Shooting for Dinner with Schmucks begins in October.
By Tessa Petrocco (Source: MTV)