Michael Cera is going to be mixing things up a little with his career, Empire is reporting, and is set to star in upcoming indie drama/thriller Magic, Magic.
The film will be the English language debut of Chilean writer/director Sebastián Silva, who wrote and directed 2009’s Golden Globe Award-winning film, The Maid (La Nana).
Magic, Magic has at its centre a young woman on holiday with her friends in remote part of Chile, and she slowly starts to lose her mind. Though she tries to get her friends to realise what’s happening, they ignore her until it is too late.
At the moment, the search is still ongoing for the actress to play the young woman. Perhaps with Cera now on board, an actress of both similar fame and calibre will be more enticed to join. Silva also won the World Cinema Jury Prize for Drama with The Maid at Sundance, so his talent as both writer and director seems confirmed already. Personally, I think Emma Stone would be perfect for the role. She and Cera starred in Superbad, so we know that they work well together, and Stone has truly been going from strength to strength over the past few years. The only thing that could be an issue is that she is already very much in demand, currently filming The Amazing Spider-Man, and depending on what roles she’s looking to take on next, she could be hard to schedule.
Cera, on the other hand, has been relatively quiet of late. He of course had the lead role in last year’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which has gained somewhat notoriety for not doing as well as expected at the box office, falling short by about m of its budget, a figure that I hope it will make up with its DVD and Blu-Ray sales.
Scott Pilgrim was incredibly well received by critics, and its unsuccessful performance came as a real surprise, because I don’t think it had anything to do with the quality of the film; some films just don’t do well at the box office. Having worked pretty solidly since about the age of 10, Cera (now 22) was certainly due a bit of a break.
Coming back to work with Magic, Magic sounds like it will be quite a bit of a change from what he’s done in the past though, so it will be interesting to see what he’s like in a more serious role. I’m hoping that before we see him in Magic, Magic, we’ll be seeing him return to his role as George-Michael Bluth in the upcoming (and very much long awaited and highly anticipated) Arrested Development movie. Nothing is set in stone yet, but creator Mitchell Hurwitz talked to Digital Spy back in February and said that he’s sincere in his hopes for shooting it this year, so I remain optimistic that things are progressing well.
