Does anybody want to see Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor playing gay prison lovers? We may never find out. I Love You, Phillip Morris is the reality-based tale of a family man turned con-man (Carrey) who discovers his real sexual orientation after a car accident puts him in a coma (we’re not kidding). It debuted more than a year ago at Sundance and took months to find a distributor.
The movie’s release date has been pushed back more than a slobbery dog. The last circled date on the calendar was May 7 in Canada. Now Alliance Films confirms I Love You, Phillip Morris has been delayed indefinitely.
“It’s a gay prison love-story/escape-movie... maybe not the easiest sell,” McGregor said last summer. “Two men fall in love in prison and one escapes and gets the other released. Jim’s a con-man who gets me released, but not through any really legit means. And I end up getting thrown back in prison through his dodgy dealings. The falling-in-love part was conspicuously absent in many of the trailers we’ve seen for the film. Assuming it ever gets released, we expect the love story will be edited down to a wacky cameo.
TURN THE PAGE: Is the comic-book movie genre bubble about to burst? It may be if your film isn’t entitled Iron Man 2. Consider the back-to-back box office of Kick-Ass (disappointment) and The Losers (flop), both adapted from comics that moviegoers had never heard of. Suddenly, trying to repurpose your unsold screenplay as a graphic novel in order to land a movie deal might not be such a brilliant idea.
Of course, this potential correction in the genre’s fortunes doesn’t apply to Iron Man 2 or any other effects-driven action-adventure with a Marvel or DC superhero at its centre and, especially, a popular actor as its star. (Next summer’s The Green Lantern, for example.)
But it may be a worrisome sign of things to come for such forthcoming lower-profile entries as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Jonah Hex and The Green Hornet. For weeks, online rumours have suggested the latter, starring Seth Rogen as the emerald-masked crime fighter, may be in trouble. Now word has come that the movie, once set for a December release, has been pushed to a much-less-glamorous January slot. The official reason is that the production needs the extra time to give it a proper 3D release.
X-MAN: What happens when you cross Cloverfield with The Hangover? Apparently you get “Project X” — a secretive, high-concept, untitled comedy that’s being developed by The Hangover director Todd Phillips.
The production has already gained notoriety for eschewing established film and TV actors for complete unknowns.
Firstshowing.net says it will be shot from a first-person point-of-view a la Cloverfield. Instead of documenting a rampaging creature, though, the movie will follow an out-of-control party, according to the site.
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