Alright, something we missed that we needed to clear up. Maybe more for ourselves than our readers as we’re sticklers for detail, but who knows, maybe some will appreciate.
When the trades announced that Uma Thurman had joined the cast of “Ceremony,” the feature-film directorial debut of Max Winkler, they reported that Michael Angarano was set to play the lead.
However, they made no mention of the fact that Jesse Eisenberg was originally set to play the lead — it’s a romantic dark comedy about a young man who becomes obsessed with an older woman and then attempts to break up her wedding at a beach town — and Angarano was supposed to play the unwitting friend who joins along in the ill-conceived endeavor.
So what happened there? Was it because the film was shooting in October in Long Island, the same month that David Fincher’s “The Social Network” was shooting? Essentially, yes.
We talked to Matt Spicer, one of the producers of “Ceremony” (and a co-writer of the ensemble comedy “The Adventurer’s Handbook” which is shooting next year starring Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Jason Segel; Winkler and Hill also co-wrote) and he said, when David Fincher calls, it’s understandably hard to say no. “Yes, we did agree to let Jesse out of the film to go do the Fincher movie that I’m sure will be amazing and make millions of dollars and we wish him all the best.”
It’s the first of many changes in the film, but really par for the course as far as moviemaking and conflicting schedules go: actors sometimes leave films, news at 11. Anna Friel was originally scheduled to play the female lead, then Elizabeth Banks took the part, and then finally the part landed with Uma Thurman, which is not at all a bad place to be.
But Spicer said all these obstacles are simply just part of the challenges of everyday filmmaking and many of the twists have been blessings in disguise that he’s now incredibly excited about. “We were bummed when we lost Elizabeth but then we landed Uma, so things keep working out for us despite the few hiccups we’ve experienced along the way.”
“Once we started reading young actors to replace Jesse, we thought, ‘Hey, Michael already knows the story so well, why not give him a chance to read?’ He was open to it so he read with Max and just blew us all away. It was kind of fortuitous in a way because I think the movie will be excellent with Michael in the role. He’s insanely dynamic and has this natural charm that’s just intoxicating.”
Two more actors are scheduled to be added to the cast, one to play Angarano’s friend (the role he used to have) and another to play Thurman’s fiancee. Spicer remained tight lipped on who would play who, but through our own detective work, we’ve figured out one is an up-and-coming indie actor from a 2008 Picturehouse HBO Films movie and a pretty prominent TV actor from an ABC dramatic black comedy (perhaps someone from “Pushing Daisies,” hmmm? Yes, we’re guessing Lee Pace as the fiancee).
Before “Ceremony,” Winkler directed episodes of “Clark and Michael,” the cult web series starring Clark Duke and Michael Cera, as well as David Wain’s “Wainy Days,” both of which are great comedy training grounds. Spicer and Winkler have also co-written “The Ornate Anatomy of Living Things” which is being developed over at Fox Searchlight with Jason Reitman producing.
“Ceremony” begins production October 21 in Long Island.