“Little Fockers” has not been looking good. The trailer for the film that hit back in June was decidedly unfunny, the recent international poster is lackluster and the overall vibe surrounding the film hasn’t been great. As you might recall, when the film was first gearing up to go in front of cameras Dustin Hoffman aka Bernie Focker, was slated to make a cameo appearance at the end of the film. But at the time, talks broke down between the actor and Universal and Hoffman walked.
Well, it looks like Universal might be willing to start those talks again. Vulture is reporting that the studio is considering getting Hoffman to reprise his role in some last minute re-shoots to help add some funny to the film. Deadline reported earlier this week that there was about a week’s worth of pick up shots to be done (which is a standard practice, btw) but that no actual re-shoots were required. However, Vulture says the production might actually be started up again if Hoffman returns and new scenes need to be shot.
Complicating matters slightly is that Hoffman is currently shooting David Milch and Michael Mann’s “Luck,” a new drama for HBO. However, if his role was indeed a cameo, we can’t imagine his scenes would take more than a day or two to shoot.
In any case, with Universal riding a very rough past year or so, this news isn’t particularly good. “Little Fockers” is certainly a film they hope will replicate the $500 million plus worldwide box office haul of “Meet The Fockers.” But if it arrives on a wave of bad buzz and poor word of mouth, expectations might have to be tempered.
But there’s still a decent amount of time to try and inject some life into the film. “Little Fockers” opens on December 22, 2010.