Alexander Payne’s been away for far too long — his last film, the Oscar-nominated “Sideways,” was released in 2004, and since then, all we’ve had is a handful of executive-producer credits, a segment in “Paris, je t’aime” and the pilot of the Thomas Jane HBO series “Hung.” Cameras started rolling last week on his first feature since he took Paul Giamatti to wine country, “The Descendants,” and we reported on the first images of the film’s star George Clooney on set over the weekend.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has news on the filling out of the supporting cast. Judy Greer, Robert Forster, Beau Bridges and Matthew Lillard will all join Clooney and the previously announced Shailene Woodley, Nick Krause and Mary Birdsong. It’s unknown where the new additions will fit in the plot, which involves a wealthy Hawaiian man (Clooney) who, following a boating accident that has left his wife critically injured, takes his daughters on a road trip to find the man she had been having an affair with.
Assuming Payne can turn it around before December, this is easily one of our most anticipated films of the year (we reviewed and flipped for the script a while back), and the new cast members seems to show Payne’s usual sure hand for casting unexpected, but talented actors. We’re slightly concerned about Lillard’s presence, but it’s worth remembering that the director brought out career best performances from the unpromising likes of Chris Klein and Dermot Mulroney, and even got Thomas Haden Church an Oscar nomination, so we’ll assume he knows what he’s doing here.