The Wedding Ringer and Frozen star Josh Gad is being touted to play the late film critic Roger Ebert in indie film Russ & Roger Go Beyond alongside Will Ferrell, who is set to play soft-core filmmaker Russ Meyer, who famously made Beyond The Valley of the Dolls together in 1970.
Producer David Permut, who produced upcoming Patrick Stewart-starrer Match, is one of the producers behind the project and has said that talks between Gad and the studio are on-going after initial talks with Oscar nominee Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) fell through. No deal with Gad has yet been signed, nor has he read the script but he is the top choice for the producers.
The film is written by Emmy winner Christopher Cluess (Saturday Night Live), and tells the story of Meyer and Ebert’s friendship in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They eventually teamed up on the aforementioned film in the early seventies after Ebert had been particularly complementary about one of Meyer’s earlier films, and stayed friends until Meter died in 2004.
Eyed for 2016 release, expect more announcements, including a director for the project, in the coming months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F&v=JoHXAqSnD5g&feature=player_embedded
Originally published January 6, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
