Feb 27 2009Carrey, Gyllenhaal Are Damn Yankees

Grandma's always like, "Let's watch the the 1958 musical Damn Yankees!" and you inevitably respond, "But Grandma, I'm young; I only want to watch Ace Venture: Pet Detective!" It's so hard to meet halfway with movie viewing in your Family Matters-esque grandma-present home. Until now! From Variety:

New Line Cinema is playing ball with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal on "Damn Yankees," attaching both actors to star in a contemporized film transfer of the classic musical.

"Damn Yankees," which bowed on Broadway in 1955 and won seven Tony Awards, focuses on Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He's transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd's soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. For good measure, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate.

The plan is for Carrey to play the devil, and Gyllenhaal to play Boyd. It's the first musical for each.

Can we get some kind of assurance that Carrey will wear Grinch-like prosthetics for his part? I feel like that's still needed to fully push this past the realm of good sense. Either that or the announcement that actual Yankee A-Rod will co-star as part of a rehabilitation agreement.