Nov 10 2009 'Mad Men' Creator Goes Romantic Comedy

Whether you loved or hated this summer's breakout hit The Hangover, I'm guessing you, like every other human, probably walked away from the film with one primary thought pounding at your braindoor: Why was Jennifer Aniston not in this instead of Ed Helms? I DON'T KNOW WHY. NO ONE KNOWS.

But relax; it is being corrected by Mad Men's Matthew Weiner:

With another season of "Mad Men" now under his belt, Matthew Weiner is getting serious about his feature career.

The creator-exec producer of the AMC/Lionsgate TV drama had planned to spend some of his "Mad Men" hiatus helming his first feature, a romantic comedy that he wrote during his "Sopranos" days. "You Are Here" has lined up indie financing and a marquee-friendly cast that includes Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis.

I'm not sure how this movie will sweep the Primetime Television Emmys, but I'm confident it will find a way.

Nov 5 2009 Zach Galifianakis Donating Voice to Shrek Thing

Joining a vocal cast that already includes most key members of the The Mask of Zorro Desperado (whups!), the always enjoyable Zach Galifanakis is negotiating to provide the voice of Humpty Dumpty in the Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots. The animated picture, as its title implies, follows Antonio Banderas's swashbuckling cat character and the events that led to his being in Shrek 2. Salma Hayak is also signed on, and presumably plays some kind of girl cat that also has a thick accent.

When will society finally evolve to the point of no longer typecasting fat people to voice fat animated characters? Not yet. Not yet.

Oct 28 2009 Dramedy Named After a Cracker Gets Solid Cast

Do you like the style of comedies that are also dramas, and vice versa? Then you may possibly enjoy Town House, just such a comedy-drama fusion that has Zach Galifianakis and Amy Adams in talks to star:

Story is loosely based on Tish Cohen's debut novel of the same name, which centers on an agoraphobic man, who lives with his teenage son in a historic Boston townhouse that he inherited from his rock star father. With royalties from his father's work dwindling, the man is forced to come to terms with his life. A call girl strikes up a friendship with the man. Doug Wright and Carney adapted the screenplay.

Galifianakis as an agoraphobe? That sounds like just the kind of meaty, socio-mutanty part he can sink his beard into. Computer, purchase tickets. Two. Weekend after opening.

Aug 26 2009 New 'Bored to Death' Trailer: Jason Schwartzman, P.I.

Boasting an impressive cast of actors of the comedy genre, HBO's Bored to Death begins airing next month, so the network has released another trailer to promote the September 20 premiere. The series stars Jason Schwartzman as a private investigator, with supporting parts from the always-funny Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson, who may have finally redeemed himself after Becker. His Curb Your Enthusiasm run nearly did it, but I still harbored resentment from the NBC miniseries Gulliver's Travels. This could be it:

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Aug 24 2009 'Youth in Revolt' Trailer: Two Teenage Michael Ceras for the Cost of One Adult Cera

Michael Cera begs you to accept him as a teenager just one more time before calling Beverly Hills 90210 shenanigans on him. In Youth in Revolt, the perpetual teen play Nick Twisp, a 14-year-old so desperate to win the affections of the girl of his dreams that he creates a bad-ass French alter ego. It's basically a Steve Urkel/Stefan Urquelle situation, except genuinely funnier, and Twisp asks for cheese far less consistently than Urkel:

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Jun 18 2009 'Bored to Death' Trailer: The Next HBO Series You'll Try to Eventually Watch

Hey, everyone, the Jonathan Ames-written, high-concept HBO series that stars Jason Schwartzman as an alcoholic writer operating illegally as a would-be detective is coming out this September, and the network has released a trailer to remind us how Zach Galifianakis, Parker Posey, Ted Danson, and Kristen Wiig are also involved.

With a cast like that, we have to give it a chance. By law. Even if it does give off a strange, unexplainable aura of being from the mid-'90s:

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May 27 2009 'Between Two Ferns': 'The Hangover' Edition

Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper promote The Hangover in the best way possible to promote anything: with another edition of Galifianakis's antagonistic, borderline surreal talk show, Between Two Ferns. Special appearance by one of our best comedians. You'll love it:

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May 8 2009 'Hangover' Trailer with Dirty Words

Enjoy the new, oddly dark trailer for The Hangover--rated R for two "fucks" and a hand gesture evocative of a masturbation finish. The ridiculous Mike Tyson re-enacting a Cadbury viral video soundtrack should not be enough to distract you from how good the last line is:

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Apr 24 2009 'Hangover' Poster Has Done Years Worth of Meth

I admire that, while they could have made Bradley Cooper the handsome leading man counterpoint to Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis (to bring in those ladies), they decided, no, let's make all three of them look like they live under an overpass. With a baby. Kudos. (Also, for any studio executives reading this, "three men living under an overpass with a baby" is my pitch for another movie.)

Apr 2 2009 You'll Want to Feel This 'The Hangover'! Because It's a Movie with That Title, Not Actual Post-Drunken Sickness!

I never thought a sort of Vegas After Hours for aging frat boys would be a description I'd use favorably, but dammit, Todd Phillips, director of Old School, you've again set up a film with such a powerful comedy trinity (Zach Galianakis, Ed Helms, and Bradley Cooper) that I cannot deny being entertained.

The second trailer for The Hangover:

Continue Reading " You'll Want to Feel This 'The Hangover'! Because It's a Movie with That Title, Not Actual Post-Drunken Sickness! "

Mar 9 2009 'Hangover' Trailer is Better Vegas Entertainment Than Even That Star Trek Casino Thing

There's a reason Vince Vaughn enthusiastically shouts, "VEGAS BABY, VEGAS !!" on that Swingers poster I had in college: because crazy things are always happening there in movies. If it isn't Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz marrying, it's a giant toddler that Rick Moranis accidentally enlarged (legitimately crazy). What a town, right? And now we can add Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis losing a groom and a tooth (while gaining a standard-size baby) to that list of fictional craziness happening in Vegas with this trailer for The Hangover. Maybe not as wild as a Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (ostensibly a prehistoric version of Las Vegas), but it looks pretty good.

Dec 31 2008 'G-Force' Trailer: Talking Guinea Pigs This Time

So many great people in this--Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Tracy Morgan, Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy, Steve Buscemi--yet it still comes off as a poor attempt at Alvin and the Chipmunks-izing Disney's Rescue Rangers. Every day for like two years, some guy went home to his wife every night and gave her news like, "I got the Nicolas Cage mole's mouth to move more in sync today," and, "I've almost tweaked the Penelope Cruz guinea pig to look oddly sexual when she sashays, even though she still has the body of a guinea pig," just so we could have this:

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Dec 15 2008 'The Hangover' Photos Will Not Make Bright Light Hurt Your Brain

Thanks to Kevin for pointing out Ropes of Silicon has a couple shots from The Hangover, the Todd Phillips comedy in which "Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms play best buddies at a wild Las Vegas bachelor party who lose the groom just hours before his wedding." The combination of casual baby-wearing, defeated stare, and punched-in-the-mouth is enough to make me think this might be pretty good. Sometimes that's all it takes.

Oct 27 2008 David Cross/Bob Odenkirk No Longer Doing That HBO Comedy :(

Back in March, word was David Cross and Bob Odenkirk had shot a sitcom pilot for HBO, and the network liked it enough to pick it up. Things were so good then, and the days with bright with comedic potential, but sadly it was not to be: Odenkirk has announced he and Cross decided to end the project. There isn't a left parenthesis curved enough to portray my sadness in emoticon format. But all is not lost. Thankfully, Odenkirk was good enough to post a clip from the series. In his words:

Here is a short bit of the pilot David and I shot for HBO a few months ago. HBO was AWESOME to let us shoot it, and we are the ones who nixed going forward with the show...however- -We all had such a good time that David and I are working on a new show that will let us kick ass. I put this video up because I think it kicks ass. I know you are missing story here...basically Zach Galifianakis plays an annoying old friend of David's who chances upon his house just when the house is being used to tape an episode of "Good Morning, Predator". Zach's character, LAME, has a shitty song he loves to sing to everyone and he does so here, completely oblivious to the fact that he is being labeled a predator. He's so happy to be on TV, that that is all that matters. It's a funny song, and cool video. Enjoy.

Here it is (and thanks for the "heads up," Tooom):

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Sep 17 2008 Zach Galifianakis Doin' Some Things

Despite a series of absurdist vodka ads and intentionally awkward interviews, I never get enough of comedian Zach Galifianakis. I'm still waiting to see him land that big role that's going to throw me over its shoulder, toss me in the back of a truck, and drive me somewhere without asking my approval first.

Hey, maybe one of these two lead roles will be "the one"! From THR:

Comedian Zach Galifianakis has snagged lead roles in Todd Phillips' comedy "The Hangover" for Warner Bros. and the HBO pilot "Bored to Death."

In "Hangover," Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms play best buddies at a wild Las Vegas bachelor party who lose the groom just hours before his wedding. Legendary Pictures is producing with Warners, and filming is set to begin this weekend.

In "Death," Galifianakis plays Ray, a struggling comic book artist and best friend to Jonathan (Jason Schwartzman), an alcoholic writer who pretends to be a private detective. Ted Danson also stars in the project from writer Jonathan Ames and director Alan Taylor.

I've got some high hopes for this HBO pilot. This is it!

Jun 6 2008 Shove Your Eyes into This 'Visioneers' Clip

Remember the strange, possibly brilliant trailer to Visioneers, starring the funny and thickly-bearded Zach Galifianakis as a man fearing his impending spontaneous explosion? Well, regardless, there's a new clip for the film at Cinematical just begging to be watched. As a warning, it might be considered not-safe-for-work. I guess it depends on your workplace's policy for blatant euphemisms (specifically, "Betty Beaver is hungry for a log"). Your call.

Sexy Clip from 'Visioneers' [Cinematical]

May 12 2008 'Visioneers' Trailer: Why Have I Heard Nothing of This Until Now?

At first glance, this looks like a standard, American Beauty-esque average-guy-on-the-edge story set to a Jon Brion score. But then you notice it stars Zach Galifianakis and Judy Greer, deals with the issue of people spontaneously exploding, hints at possible George Washington past-life memories, and shows a covert breast grab and tons and tons of flick-offing, and you realize this might actually be everything you've ever wanted.

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Nov 5 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...

- Sylvester Stallone is in talks to direct and star as a man turned vigilante after his family is attacked in a remake of Death Wish, a title begging for jokes about his age. [Variety]

- Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel have joined David O. Russell's political satire about a woman shot in the head with a nailgun, giving her wild sexual urges, and the immoral congressman who takes advantage. Is it wrong that I'm most excited at the possibility of more videos of Russell freaking out on people? [Hollywood Reporter]

- Hayden Christensen will star in Beast of Bataan, playing the attorney to Masaharu Homma, the Japanese general implicated in the Bataan Death March. How tasteless will it be when they play Beast of Burden in the trailer? [Hollywood Reporter]