We’ve made no secret of our love for Adam Scott in these parts, but he’s somehow not quite become the massive star it feels like he’s been destined to be for a while. The actor popped up as a vaguely familiar face in serious dramas like “The Aviator,” “High Crimes” and, um, “Torque” (maybe not so much with the serious and the drama) in the first half of the last decade, but he then took a major about turn into comedy, stealing the show in “Step Brothers,” leading ace sitcom “Party Down” and recently joining the cast of the amazing “Parks & Recreation.” But at the same time, he’s given some scorching dramatic performances in little-seen indies like “The Vicious Kind” and “Passenger Side,” and even did the action movie thing in “Piranha 3D,” leading to the impression that maybe Hollywood just doesn’t quite know what to make of him.
Still, things are picking up for the actor thanks to the acclaim for ‘Parks & Rec’ — he’s got a big role alongside Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig in the indie “Friends With Kids,” and he’ll lend some support to Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand in next year’s “My Mother’s Curse.” And now, some smart person has decided to take a punt on putting him in a lead role, as Deadline report that the actor is attached to topline the comedy “A.C.O.D.”
The title is a acronym for “Adult Children of Divorce,” and Scott will play Carter, a thirtysomething whose parents divorced acrimoniously long ago. Years later, his younger brother Trey is getting married, and Scott’s character has to bring his mom and dad back together for the wedding and stop their hatred from ruining the event. The script, from Stuart Zicherman (who co-created the short-lived J.J. Abrams-produced series “Six Degrees“) and Ben Karlin (a “Daily Show” veteran and co-creator of “The Colbert Report“), made the 2008 Black List, and Zicherman will make his directorial debut on the project. Black Bear Pictures, who are behind Ramin Bahrani‘s next film, are producing.
We’ve read the script, and it’s pretty great: somewhere between “Bridesmaids” and Noah Baumbach in tone, and should prove an excellent showcase for Scott, as well as plenty of other top comic actors. Filming will get underway in March, fitting around Scott’s “Parks & Recreation” schedule, so we’ll likely see this in theaters (or least on the fest circuit) in the early part of 2013.