Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s second directorial effort, Frank Or Francis is coming together, with a pretty impressive cast being lined up for the somewhat mysterious movie. It wouldn’t be surprising if the actors involved don’t know a lot more about the movie than we do, but have agreed to do the movie based on Kaufman’s acclaimed scripts for the likes of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Synecdoche New York.
The latest to be announced for the film is Kevin Kiline, who will apparently play two roles in the movie, while Variety also confirms Steve Carell, Jack Black and Nicolas Cage for the movie, as rumoured for the last couple of months. The comedy is said to be a parody of Hollywood musicals, which centres around the online war between a successful filmmaker (Steve Carell) and a snarky blogger (Jack Black). Kevin Kline will play Richard Waller, the brother of fictional filmmaker Jonathan Waller, whose movie Hiroshima is the highest-grossing movie of all time.
In a bizarre twist, Kevin Kline will also play Richard’s Head, an animatronic device loaded with advanced screenwriting techniques that Jonathan uses to make broad Hollywood movies with no artistic integrity. Nicolas Cage is also attached to star as The Emcee, a famous actor known for commercially successful films such as Fat Dad. It all sounds a bit too on the nose to be honest, but with Kaufman’s magical touch, it’ll probably work. Shooting is scheduled to begin in January.