SNL Funnyman Says Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Donald Glover & More Will Star In Film Written By His Wife
EXCLUSIVE: We haven’t been shy in expressing our infatuation with comedic actress Aubrey Plaza. Though she doesn’t have too many notches on her belt, her turns in “Funny People,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Parks and Recreation” are extremely impressive, displaying a young talent with a knack for comedic timing and wit. Whether it’s keeping up with Seth Rogen‘s deadpan, dry deliveries in Judd Apatow’s last picture or actively (and abrasively) berating Michael Cera in Edgar Wright’s underrated gem, Plaza did it all effortlessly and showed that she was more than just a one-note actress with a cute face. She’s gonna be somebody, she’s gonna be a contenda.
So, color us excited when in a recent interview for Greg Mottola‘s “Paul” (hitting theaters March 18, plug!), Bill Hader yielded some promising news for the upcoming Plaza vehicle, “The Hand Job,” to be written and directed by his wife and comedienne Maggie Carey. While financing isn’t 100% cemented, the cast they’ve put together is sure to attract some dollars and cents, not to mention round up avid comedy TV watchers to the cinemas.
“The cast she got for it now is amazing,” Hader began with a deep breath, trying to remember everyone in it. “There’s Alia Shawkat (“Arrested Development“), Mae Whitman (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”), Johnny Simmons (ditto), Donald Glover (“Community“), Connie Britton (“Friday Night Lights“), Andy Samberg, Me… that’ll be a cool thing to do together.”
We’ll say. The script, according to Hader, “killed during a reading at the Austin Film Festival” and was made specifically with Plaza’s sensibilities in mind. He divulges a bit more of the story below:
“It’s about her playing an type-A, studious girl who graduates high school and hasn’t done anything with a guy. The summer before college she decides that she has to find out how to do everything in order to be properly prepared, so she makes a very serious bullet list of everything, like… hand-job, titty-fuck, blow-job, fingering, and just kinda checks one off every time she does it. She’s being the aggressor and is very straight-forward about it, like ‘Okay, so I’m going to give you a hand-job now.’ And the guys are very taken aback about it, especially her straight-laced friends.”
It definitely plays to Plaza’s strengths and we can see a “Superbad” meets “Easy A” kind of vibe going on. As much as we want it to happen, she’s not likely to take the coveted Lois Lane role in “Superman: Man of Steel,” but we’ll take any female-driven movie that doesn’t focus on the faux-reality displayed in any atrocious Katherine Heigl blunder. Expect more cast members too, Hader was drawing a blank on the entire list (hey, it was a busy day of press).