With rumors of an “Arrested Development” film refusing to die, stars of the defunct Fox show continue to ride the wave of the cult classic. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera have obviously made the most of their time on the Ron Howard-narrated show, but another star is beginning to spread her wings as well.
Alia Shawkat (who played Maeby Fünke) has steadily been scoring supporting parts in interesting, independent fare such as “Whip It!,” “The Runaways” and the upcoming festival-bound duo of “Damsels In Distress” and “The Oranges.” She’s now set to continue that trend, booking roles in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris‘ “He Loves Me” starring Paul Dano and based on a script by Zoe Kazan as well as Raama Mosley‘s “The Brass Teapot,” starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano.
In the Dayton/Faris comeback pic, Shawkat will play Mabel, a cute hipster who has a crush on Dano’s character and is obsessed with one of his literary creations. The story itself, of course, centers on Dano”s protagonist as he follows the advice of writing the woman he thinks will love him in a bid to overcome his writer’s block only to end up willing her into existence. Annette Bening, Deborah Ann Woll, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan, Elliot Gould, Aasif Mandvi, Chris Messina and Toni Trucks all co-star in the highly anticipated project.
Commerical director Mosley’s feature debut, meanwhile, will see Shawkat play Louise, the best friend of Temple’s lead who forms one half of a broke young couple who steal a brass teapot that produces cash whenever someone feels pain. Angarano, presumably, plays the other half of the couple with the fantastical script penned by Tim Macy, based on his short story. Definitely one to keep an eye on considering the promising talent involved. [Variety]
