Emily Blunt Confirmed As Female Lead Opposite Jason Segel
AMC’s “Mad Men” is pretty much the best drama series on television; “Breaking Bad” might give it a run for its money, but we reckon the period piece has the edge. While it’s more divisive (including within the staff of The Playlist) NBC’s “Community” is, for this writer, the best comedy on television — with an ambition and, generally speaking, a level of execution (the show can be patchy occasionally) above even the excellent “Parks and Recreation” and “30 Rock.” And there’s one person that links the two: 27-year-old actress Alison Brie.
Brie plays both Trudie Campbell, wife of the endlessly fascinating Pete Campbell, on the former series, and overachieving former pill-addict Annie Edison on the latter, and she’s terrific in both. She’s making her big-screen debut a few weeks from now with a role in “Scream 4,” but Brie’s just landed a film gig that should get her much more attention.
Variety report that the actress has joined the cast of the Judd Apatow-produced romantic comedy “Five-Year Engagement,” which is to be directed by “Get Him To The Greek” helmer Nicholas Stoller. The film, which follows the relationship rollercoaster of a couple across the titular pre-wedding period, marks the reunion of Stoller with Jason Segel, the star and co-writer of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall;” the two wrote the script together, and Segel will again take the male lead.
Emily Blunt, who worked with Segel and Stoller on “Gulliver’s Travels,” was rumored at the end of last year to have been offered the other half of the couple, and Variety’s piece brings the first confirmation that the English actress has signed on. Brie will play Blunt’s sister, adopting an English accent for the part. She tells Variety that she’s a huge fan of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” calling it one of her favorite films, and says that she’s been told that filming will get underway in April (although Stoller revealed today on his Twitter account that pre-production shooting is already underway).
While we have our fair share of issues with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” we like everyone involved so far, and we’re particularly glad to see Brie involved. Segal talked a good game about the project near the end of last year, comparing the film to “Annie Hall” and “When Harry Met Sally,” so we’re hoping this’ll be a cut above your average rom-com. Assuming that April start date doesn’t slip, and it seems unlikely, we should see “Five-Year Engagement” at some point midway through 2012.
