Chris O'Dowd is on his way to becoming a very big deal. The Irish comic actor first came to notice, alongside Richard Ayoade, in cult TV show "The IT Crowd," and after early movie appearances in "The Boat That Rocked" and "Gulliver's Travels," has gone from strength to strength. He got to show dramatic range in "The Crimson Petal and White," and after playing the swoonsome cop love interest in "Bridesmaids," has become something of a favorite of the Judd Apatow gang with roles in "Friends With Kids," "This Is Forty" and "Girls" all coming up.
O'Dowd's plenty busy at the moment: he's written and is co-starring in "Moone Boy," an autobiographical comedy-drama series for Sky in the U.K., and is shortly to take a supporting role in "Calvary," John Michael McDonagh's follow-up to "The Guard." And it looks like he's teaming with another popular comic star and the company behind some of the most exciting British movies of the last few years for a new big-screen comedy.
The Sun (via Twitch) report that O'Dowd will star with Nick Frost ("Hot Fuzz," the upcoming "Snow White and the Huntsman") in "Cuban Fury," a comedy set around the world of salsa dance that's set up at Big Talk Productions, the company behind "Shaun of the Dead," "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and "Attack the Block." Frost will play a former teen dance prodigy who attempts a comeback years after a rival (O'Dowd) ruined his career. The script comes from Jon Brown, a fast-rising British scribe who's written for popular shows like "Misfits," "Fresh Meat" and "Mongrels," and this project would mark his big-screen debut.
While we don't often take The Sun as a plausible source, we've done some digging and everything here seems to be legit: the film's even listed on Big Talk's own website. The company is as reliable a name in U.K. comedy as you could ask for (they're also behind TV hits like "Rev" and "Him & Her"), Brown's credits are impressive, and if you don't see the comic appeal of Frost and O'Dowd as salsa dancers, then there may be something wrong with you. As far as we know, there's no director yet attached or firm start date — Frost is meant to be shooting "I, Macrobane" with the same company and Ben Wheatley later this year, and possibly "The World's End" with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg too — but this could end up going before either of them.