by Matt Raub, Aug 10 2011 // 8:00 AM
While Tropic Thunder may have been one of the best satires of the Hollywood system and funniest comedies of the past few years, one thing that every person who saw the film couldn’t help but love was the collection of fake movie trailers preempting the film.
Ben Stiller, director of Thunder and the brains behind most of the trailers as well as the classic Heat Vision & Jack pilot, has decided that there’s more than enough interest from fans to support doing more parody trailers that will stand on their own. Here’s the full deal from Deadline.
The new project, essentially a series of at least 12 short trailer parodies, will be distributed online via a partner to be named shortly. The plan is to bring together top actors and filmmakers across all genres to take part. I’m now told that they’ll come one per week, starting in the late fall or winter.
Stiller will produce with Stuart Cornfeld and Mike Rosenstein through Red Hour Digital, with longtime Red Hour collaborator Robert Cohen exec producing and directing some of the shorts. Among the actors and directors who’ll contribute content are Stiller’s Tropic Thunder co-writer Justin Theroux, Night at the Museum scribes Tom Lennon & Ben Garant, and Clueless helmer Amy Heckerling.
Expect to see more directors show interest in this project, as Robert Rodriguez and his band of genre and horror friends have been attempting the same thing after Grindhouse was such a cult success.
Posted in: Announcements · Comedy · Fandom · Movies · New Media · News · Trailers · Web
Tagged: Amy Heckerling, Ben Garant, Ben Stiller, Clueless, Justin Theroux, Mike Rosenstein, Red Hour Digital, Stuart Cornfield, The Fake Trailer Project, Tom Lennon, Tropic Thunder
by Matt Raub, Oct 13 2009 // 8:00 AM
Let’s be honest, everybody who had ever sat through an episode of Reno 911 in its 6 years on the air knows how heartbreaking it was when the show got canceled two months ago. The show kept the flame of MTV’s The State burning for over a decade after the show had originally aired. It looks like NBC feels the same way, as they have hired Reno creators Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant for a new comedy series.
Lennon and Garant (who played Reno’s Jim Dangle and Travis Junior respectively) signed a deal with NBC and Universal Media Studios for a pilot commitment, which means if nothing else, we will get one episode. The team will write, star, and executive produce the series.
Those who aren’t fans of Reno or The State may know the written work of Lennon and Garant from the two Night at the Museum films, Balls of Fury, The Pacifier, and the Reno 911 feature film. The team also has a series of scripts in pre-production at a number of other studios.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC was quick to pick up Lennon and Garant after news of their cancelation from Comedy Central:
“Our entire team has long been fans of the work Lennon and Garant have done on ‘Reno 911!’ as well as their comedy films,” NBC president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad said, noting that network brass will look for the duo “to come up with a comedy hit.”
No details have been released about the project’s premise or when we can see it hitting our TV’s, but with the purchase happening this week, you can expect to see the pilot premiere with NBC’s Fall 2010 lineup.
Posted in: Announcements · Comedy · Deals and Dealmaking · Legal · MTV · NBC · Networks · News · TV
Tagged: Balls of Fury, Ben Garant, NBC, Night at the Museum, Reno 911, Thomas Lennon