Burt Wonderstone is really starting to shape up with its cast recently, with Jim Carrey and Steve Carell confirmed for the leading male roles.
Just a few days ago, Michelle Monaghan, Olivia Wilde, Judy Greer, Jessica Biel, and Sarah Silverman were reported to be on the short list for the female lead, and now word comes from Variety that James Gandolfini, of course well known for his unbeatable performance as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, is in talks to join the film too.
“Carell stars as half of a once-successful Las Vegas magic duo that must reunite to square off against a hot-shot street magician (Carrey) whose tricks are often dangerous.
Gandolfini is in talks to play Doug Munny, a classy billionaire who owns the Aztec Casino, where the title character and his partner perform their show.”
The role sounds pretty perfect for Gandolfini, who was immense as the head of the Soprano family, and you can already easily picture him as the owner of a casino, with a drink in one hand, a cigar in the other, and a big grin on his face.
Variety also report that the short list for the female lead is getting shorter, with New Line focusing on just Olivia Wilde and Sarah Silverman. Though Silverman may have more experience in comedy, she doesn’t really do it for me with her kind of comedy, so my vote definitely falls behind Wilde, but time will tell.
30 Rock’s Don Scardino will be taking the helm, with the original spec script coming from Chad Kultgen, and re-writes coming first from Horrible Bosses scribes John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and most recently from Oscar-nominated Jason Reitman (Up in the Air).
Production is scheduled to start in January, and hopefully we’ll be seeing it on the big screen sometime in the following year. Since The Sopranos finished back in 2007, Gandolfini’s been taking fairly low-key roles, but he’ll soon be seen alongside Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, and opposite Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, and Ray Liotta in Cogan’s Trade, so hopefully if he signs on for Burt Wonderstone, this could be the start of a return to a bigger presence for the actor, which would be a truly welcome one. He’s pretty damn awesome.
