It’s taken a while, but Jason Bateman finally seems to be getting some traction in the movie world. It’s a surprise it’s taken so long, as everyone seems to agree he was very good, but until recently nobody appeared to want to give him the decent role. He’s still not quite on the A-list, but he’s getting there, and now Pajiba reports that he’s in talks to star in New Line’s stoner comedy We’re the Millers, that will be directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball).
The film is about a marijuana dealer who – on his 30th birthday – recruits a faux family so he can get out of the business after making one last score by smuggling 1,400 pounds of pot from Mexico.
Although it doesn’t particularly sound like an amazing premise for a film, there must be something about the script as New Line first picked up the project in 2002 when they bought a spec script from Wedding Crashers writing duo Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. Since then numerous writers have taken a stab at rewriting it, Will Arnett and Steve Buscemi have been stand gone from the cast list and Peter Cattaneo stepped in and out of the directing chair. Whether it’ll actually go ahead this time is yet to be seen, but there must be something about We’re The Miller that keeps New Line plugging away at it.