Carell’s ‘Imagine’ With Al Pacino Put Into Turnaround At Warner Bros.
Up until now, the on screen pairings between Steve Carell and Jim Carrey have been fairly limited. Of course, Carell featured in “Bruce Almighty” where he was the unfortunate victim of Carrey’s God-powered tomfoolery (and of course, his character was spun off into “Evan Almighty” which the less said, the better). They also both took voice roles in the animated “Horton Hears a Who!” a couple years back and irony of ironies, Carrey made a (pretty lacklustre) cameo appearance on the season finale of “The Office” last spring, of course, by this point Carell had exited the show. But it now appears that the duo are both going to finally co-star together as Deadline reports that Carrey has taken a role in the long developing “Burt Wonderstone.”
With a fresh rewrite by none other than Jason Reitman, the film was originally penned by “Horrible Bosses” writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and revolves around a fading traditional magician who ditches his longtime partner and is upstaged by a hipper illusionist, forcing him to regain his love for magic. Carell has long been attached as the film went through development which saw “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation” director Charles McDougall sign on and then leave, ultimately being replaced by “30 Rock” director Don Scardino. Actually, Carrey was offered the film as long ago as last summer, but we’d guess the combination of Carell and Reitman proved too strong to resist. No word yet on when this will lens, but we’d guess after Carell wraps up his work on “Great Hope Springs” with Meryl Streep. But as one movie pushes forward, another has fallen behind.
The rocker dramedy “Imagine,” which had Al Pacino attached to star, is now in turnaround to Warner Bros. according to Vulture. Penned by Dan Fogelman (”Crazy Stupid Love,” “My Mother’s Curse”), and set to be his directorial debut, the story centers on a sixty-something Bruce Springsteen-type rocker, who discovers a long unopened letter written by John Lennon that inspires him to track him down his son who he has never met. Carell was initially going to star as the long lost son, but stepped down, staying on as a producer instead. WB didn’t feel confident enough to push ahead with just Pacino — maybe they saw the “Jack And Jill” trailer — so they’ve been letting it go.
