Jason Bateman Replaces Steve Carell in FBI Wedding Comedy
Jason Bateman will star in and direct a big-screen FBI farce. The role was originally planned for Steve Carell, but he is no longer involved. There has also been a change in studios. The project, which started out at Warner Brothers, has now been picked up by Universal. The storyline is reminiscent of Adam Sandler's 2007 flick I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Two straight guys pretend to fall in love and get married, but this time they are FBI agents who use their wedding to trap the mob.
In addition to the changes in the star and studio, the project is also getting a new writer. Early versions of the script were penned by David Flebotte (Boardwalk Empire) and Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams). The screenplay is now being overhauled by playwright David Bar Katz, the writer responsible for John Leguizamo's stage show Freak.
Bateman is also producing the picture alongside James Garavente, via the duo's production company, Aggregate.
It seems that Bateman is working as much behind the scenes as he does in front of the camera, directing and producing several high-profile projects recently. In a GQ interview, he discussed the evolution of his career, saying: "As opposed to Ron Howard's career, which is exclusively directing and producing, no acting, and like Favreau's career and Pete Berg's career, where it's mostly directing—I think, more realistically, I'd like it to be more like George Clooney's career or Ben Stiller's career or Ben Affleck's career as far as splitting the time between acting and directing."
This article originally appeared on STACK.com: Jason Bateman Replaces Steve Carell in FBI Wedding Comedy
