Stephen Merchant and J.B. Smoove have been added to the cast of the Farrelly Brothers’ infidelity-comedy “Hall Pass.”
The film stars Owen Wilson, Jason Sudekis, Amanda Bynes and Jenna Fischer and centers on two friends whose wives give them ‘hall passes,’ enabling them to engage in extra-marital affairs. Merchant and Smoove will play friends of Wilson and Sudekis who join them on their quest to cash in their passes.
Interestingly, Smoove is a regular co-star on Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” which we previously noted had a similar plot line in its fourth season. Merchant, meanwhile, most recently co-directed the ’60s-British-coming-of-age tale “Cemetery Junction” with regular collaborator Ricky Gervais which still doesn’t have a stateside release. Merchant recently took to Vulture to discuss his and Gervais’ dramatic change of gears with ‘Junction,’ revealing an interesting inspiration.
“We’re not particularly interested in films on sci-fi, aliens, goblins…we like stuff about real people,” the writer-director noted. “One of our inspirations was a few lyrics from ‘Thunder Road’ by Bruce Springsteen: ‘It’s a town full of losers and we’re pulling out of here to win.'”
“Hall Pass” is scheduled to start shooting this month in Atlanta while “Cemetery Junction” hit theaters April 14th in the U.K.