It’s been five far too long years since Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris‘ indie smash hit “Little Miss Sunshine” but they are coming back with vengeance. Their next project set up at Fox Searchlight is a meta, Charlie Kaufman-esque comedy, and they’ve snagged a four time Oscar nominee to join the gang of young thesps that includes Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan.
Variety reports that Annette Bening is in negotiations to join “He Loves Me.” Written by actress Kazan, the project is a meta-strange sounding road-trip film that centers on Calvin (Dano) a young novelist who achieves success early in his career but begins to face struggles. It has been described as a blend of “Adaptation” and “Weird Science,” as the young protagonist follows the advice of writing the woman he thinks will love him in a bid to overcome his writer’s block. Here’s the strange part, through this odd exercise he ends up willing her into existence. Bening will play Calvin’s Mom, Gertrude. She’s a “painter who’s curious about Calvin’s new girlfriend, but worried about how much he hates her second husband, a hippie named Mort.”
The role still to be filled is that of Mort. Jeff Bridges was being sought for a part last month but he’s since inked a contract to join Ryan Reynolds in the comic thingy “R.I.P.D.,” which shoots at the same time, so we’re curious to see who’ll slot in instead. Production begins next month.