Ed Helms to star in "Cedar Rapids" for Alexander Payne.

With the smashing success of Warner Bros. Pictures' raved about comedy "The Hangover," star Ed Helms will follow up with the comedy "Cedar Rapids." Miguel Arteta directs the Alexander Payne-produced film which starts filming in October this year after Helms is on hiatus from NBC's "The Office."

Helms will play an inept insurance agent who attends an industry convention in order to try to save the jobs of his colleagues. The script was penned by Phil Johnston who developed alongside Helms. Although several distributors are trying their luck to snag the project, it's rumored to most likely go to Fox Searchlight Pictures who distributed the award-winning "Sideways" by Payne.

George Clooney in talks to join The Descendants

George Clooney is currently in talks to join Fox Searchlight Pictures' "The Descendants." The story follows a wealthy landowners who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in hopes of keeping his family together.

The actor is currently shooting the Anton Corbijn-helmed thriller "The American." Alexander Payne returns to the helm after almost five years and filming is scheduled to start in Hawaii in February. This marks the first collaboration between Payne and Clooney.

The screenplay is based on the first novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings and is penned by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.

Clooney And Payne To Make The Descendents

It looks like George Clooney’s next project will be a collaboration with the man behind Sideways and Election, Alexander Payne, called The Descendants.

The movie will be based on a novel of the same name by author Kaui Hart Hemmings and has…

Payne, Clooney Search for Descendants

Alexander Payne, creator of Sideways and About Schmidt, is currently in talks with George Clooney to join his next film, The Descendants.

Clooney Could Be One of The Descendants

It was only a couple months back when George Clooney was picking up projects two at a time. After a brief break from casting, he's back in the news again, but this time for a single role. Sticking to dramedy, Clooney is in talks to play the lead role in The Descendants for Fox Searchlight.

George Clooney in Talks for The Descendants
To be directed by Alexander Payne off a an adapted script by scribes Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants centers on a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in the hopes of keeping his family together.

The project not only marks the first feature for Payne in five years, but it will also be his first collaboration with Clooney; if the actor decides to join.

Exclusive Interview: This Is It Choreographer Travis Payne

This Is It is being sold, yes, as a chronicle of the last moments of Michael Jackson's life. But it's also an interesting story about artistic collaboration, making real characters out of people like director Kenny Ortega, musical director Michael Bearden, and choreographer Travis Payne, all of whom are seen in the film working with Jackson and the rest of the crew, putting their heads together to create a spectacle like none other. Payne, who first worked with Jackson as ...

Alexander Payne to Direct The Descendants

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been 5 years since Alexander Payne last directed a movie, but it's true... Sideways was released back in 2004. Since then he directed a segment for Paris, je t'aime and also directed the pilot episode for HBO's Hung (which he is also executive producing). Oh, and then there's that unfortunate little screenplay credit for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, but we'll just keep that between us. There have been a couple of other projects on his plate as well, most notably Downsizing, a comedy starring Paul Giamatti and Reese Witherspoon "as a married couple who opt to retire as 'little people'." I've been curious to see this one develop, especially since Sacha Baron Cohen is also co-starring, but now it appears that Payne may be pushing that aside for an adaptation of the book The Descendants instead. Written by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the story is described as a "family dramedy" about a rich land owner who finds out that his wife, who is in an irreversible coma, was cheating on him. Has anyone out there read it? Are you looking forward to a new Alexander Payne movie, or is he in danger of becoming redundant what with all the other indie dramedies out there nowadays?

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Alexander Payne Dealing With The Descendants

It's been five years since Alexander Payne practically set the world on fire with Sideways, a movie about a midlife crisis that got a lot of people excited about wine, of all things. Now he's finally ready to direct his fifth feature, an adaptation of the novel The Descendants, by Kaui Hart Hemmings. To film the movie Payne will get in on some of that Lost action-- the film is set in Hawaii, where a father takes his two daughters ...

Alexander Payne to Direct The Descendants

Alexander Payne has signed on to direct The Descendants, a family dramedy based on Kaui Hart Hemmings' debut novel of the same name. Fox Searchlight, the studio that distributed Paynes Sideways, is developing the project. Set in Hawaii, Descendants tells the story of a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in the hopes of keeping his family together. Payne is currently polishing the script, originally penned by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Descendants marks the second project that Payne has attached himself to after a five year drought from the feature world. The filmmaker helmed a segment in Paris, je t'aime and the pilot episode of HBOs Hung, but hasnt directed a feature since the aforementioned Sideways, which earned him an Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Downsizing is the other project, a social satire that Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon are attached to star in. In the film Giamatti's character realizes he would have a better life if he shrank himself. Payne opted to shoot Descendants first in order to give Downsizing, a larger production, more prep time. Payne begins filming Descendants in Hawaii at the end of the year or early 2010.

Alexander Payne finds The Descendants

It's been a while, but Sideways director Alexander Payne has finally decided on his next film.

He'll shoot The Descendants in Hawaii either later this year or early next.

Based on Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel, it's the Payne-esque tale of a wealthy landowner who takes his daughters to look for his wife's lover in the hopes that he can keep his family together.

Payne is busy rewriting Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's first take on the script, and once he's got a cast in place, will travel to Hawaii to set up the shoot.

What does that mean for the movie he was already preparing, Downsizing?

That one apparently needs more time to get ready, so Sacha Baron Cohen, Paul Giamatti and Reese Witherspoon, who are all attached, will have to wait until later next year to start work on it.

[Source: Variety]

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