Following in the footsteps of micro-budgeted filmmakers like the Duplass Brothers, American independent filmmaker and actor Joe Swanberg looks like he's going Hollywood for his next project. And or, at the very least, the mumblecore-y director/writer/thespian has scored himself a pretty impressive and well-known cast for his latest film. Previously having only worked on tiny-budgeted pictures, with Greta Gerwig and Mark Duplass being the biggest two actors he's worked with thus far, his latest has just added Olivia Wilde, Ron Livingston and Jake Johnson ("The New Girl") to a film that already includes Anna Kendrick ("Up In The Air").
Titled "Drinking Buddies," the picture, presumably a type of comedic drama, centers on a fun and flirtatious friendship that goes off the rails. Livingston will play Chris, the guy in the out-of-control relationship, according to Deadline, but as of now it's unknown who the rest of the cast will play. The 30-year-old, uber-prolific Swanberg has already directed a dozen feature films since 2005. His detractors' — some of whom would be us — critiques generally center on the fact that perhaps the quality of his films might be better if he simply slowed down a little bit, but Swanberg has already admitted in several interviews that speed and capturing energy quickly is sort of his deal. His most recent effort is directing a segment of the upcoming horror portmanteau "V/H/S."
What seperates this film from the others? Hopefully the experienced producers. Anish Savjani has most of Kelly Reichardt's pictures to his credit (and some of Swanberg's past films, "Nights and Weekends," "Hannah Takes the Stairs"), Andrea Roa has credits like "Half Nelson," and Alicia Van Couvering has produced such films as "Nobody Walks," and "Damsels in Distress." Paul Bernon and Sam Slater round-out the long-list of producing names. Maybe they can all coax Swanberg to take a breath and maybe shoot with a camera that costs more than $5.