Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Cowboys & Aliens) is set to return in front of the camera once more, joining one of Universal’s most promising upcoming projects, Identity Thief.
The (crime-)comedy stars Jason Bateman as a man whose life falls apart when his identity is stolen by Melissa McCarthy – a role first written for a male actor, before we heard last summer that it was being rewritten for McCarthy to play instead.
Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) will be taking the helm, and given that Horrible Bosses is one of the funniest films in recent years, I’d say it’s in safe hands.
Amanda Peet will also star alongside Bateman, McCarthy, and the newly added Favreau, which definitely makes for a very exciting line-up.
Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness) wrote the first draft of the film, with Craig Mazin (The Hangover Part II) doing the rewrite, and with cast now coming together, this is one Universal will no doubt want to put into production as fast as possible.
McCarthy is coming off an Oscar-nominated performance in Bridesmaids, and will star in Judd Apatow’s This Is 40 later this year, and things are looking better than ever for Bateman, who’s due to return to Arrested Development (one of the greatest TV shows of all time) with a highly-anticipated fourth season and feature film.
Favreau and Bateman starred alongside each other in the former’s last big acting role, Couples Retreat (which Favreau also co-wrote), as well as in 2006’s brilliant The Break-Up, and I can’t wait to see them back on the big screen together. I was looking forward to the project already with Bateman attached, and Favreau only bolsters that excitement even further.
Identity Thief – which was originally to be called ID Theft – will be released here in the UK on 12 July, 2013, following a 10th May release next year in the US, making it one of the biggest (and hopefully best) comedies to look out for next summer. It’s looking good. More as we get it.
Source: Variety.
