The cast of “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” is starting to finally fill itself out. David Krumholtz (CBS‘ “Numbers”), Clark Gregg (“Iron Man,” director of “Choke“) and James Tupper (ABC‘s “Men in Trees“) have joined the cast that already includes Jim Carrey and Carla Gugino.
The 20th Century Fox family comedy revolves around a high-powered Manhattan businessman (Carrey) who inherits six penguins that wreak havoc on his swanky bachelor-style life.
Krumholtz plays a neighbor with a grudge who seeks to profit from the fact that Popper is illegally keeping animals in his New York apartment, Tupper plays the green-friendly obsessed boyfriend of Carla Gugino (Carrey’s ex-wife in the film) and Gregg, a “no-nonsense” employee from the New York Zoo.
While this doesn’t sound like a film for most serious moviegoers, perhaps it’s in the vein of “Night Of The Museum,” and will provide wide entertainment value.
On the plus side, the film is being helmed by “Mean Girls” director Mark Waters (he still hasn’t topped that picture yet, but “The Spiderwick Chronicles” will surely have prepared him for the effects in this one) and the script is co-written by Nick Stoller (“Get Him To The Greek,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall“) and scribes Sean Anders and John Morris who penned “Sex Drive,” “Hot Tub Time Machine,” and “She’s Out of My League” so there’s potentially a lot of hope with this talent involved.
Ben Stiller and director Noah Baumbach were once circling the project together so perhaps there’s something there al a “Fantastic Mr. Fox” that could even draw in the snobs like us
Production is starting in New York soon and the film is already set for an August 21, 2011 release. Presumably the CGI-intensive post-production will be heavy-lifting, but we presume they’ll hit that target date in time. [THR/THR]