2010 gave us two sides of Ben Stiller. We saw him in the excellent Noah Baumbach film “Greenberg” and watched him slum it in the absolutely dreadful “Little Fockers,” Now, halfway through 2011, the actor is deciding what he’ll do after he’s finished up Brett Ratner’s sort-of-promising ensemble comedy “Tower Heist.”
THR reports that Stiller was stuck between two projects: a remake of “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” which he became attached to a couple of months back and the comedy “Neighborhood Watch” which was recently rewritten by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Well, ‘Watch’ has emerged victorious and even better, it has a new director being offered the job behind the camera.
The Lonely Island member, “Saturday Night Live” writer and “Hot Rod” director Akiva Schaffer has been offered the director’s chair that would see him take over from the bland Pete Segal (”Get Smart,” “Tommy Boy”). The premise follows a bunch of guys who form a neighborhood watch group as “a front for dads to get some male bonding time away from the family. Things go awry when the group accidentally uncovers a plot bent on destroying the world.” The project originally had a script by Jared Stern (”Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “Arthur”) but Rogen and Goldberg’s new take piqued the interest of both Stiller and Schaffer.
Oddly, the one project we really want to see Stiller do next, Noah Baumbach‘s “While We’re Young,” is not mentioned at all which makes us a bit fearful it might have fallen apart. Jesse Eisenberg and Naomi Watts were said to be circling at the end of last month but there hasn’t been any other word since. As for this project, our interest will depend on who else gets on board to play with Stiller. Can we suggest Steve Coogan?
