
It looks like Larry David’s comedy feature set up to debut on HBO finally has a name: Clear History. More important than that oddly ambiguous title is the all-star cast that David and director Greg Mottola (Superbad) have lined up. We previously reported that Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Michael Keaton (Batman) were attached to star, but a slew of others have joined the production. Clear History will also feature Kate Hudson, Bill Hader, Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, JB Smoove, Danny McBride and Phillip Michael Hall. Hit the jump for more on Clear History.
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We previously reported that Greg Mottola’s untitled comedy that stars Larry David, Jon Hamm and Michael Keaton may be debuting on HBO. Now we have a bit more clarity on what the plot of the film concerns and more information on what Keaton’s character will be. The partially improvised comedy seems like it will play out as a feature-length version of David’s successful Curb Your Enthusiasm series. Hit the jump for more on the project.
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Before you even say it, “Yes, they’ll turn anything into a movie.” Variety reports that Paramount is in talks with Seinfeld writers Alec Berg and David Mandel to develop a movie based off Andrew Grantham‘s YouTube hit “Ultimate Dog Tease”. In the video, an owner taunts his dog with promises of food only to reveal that he has already eaten the meal. If that sound stupid and unfunny, that’s because it is. But it also racked up 93 million pageviews, so here we are. Paramount will develop the movie through its low-budget label, Insurge, which recently produced The Devil Inside.
In case your parents haven’t already forwarded it to you, hit the jump to check out the video.
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Warner Bros. has hired screenwriter David Mandel to write the reboot of Fletch. As we reported back in February, Warner Bros. picked up the rights to Gregory Mcdonald’s mystery novels for what they’re calling not a remake but a “re-imagining”, which is studio-speak for remake. However, since two of the Fletch novels were previously adapted (1985′s Fletch and 1989′s Fletch Lives, both starring Chevy Chase as the eponymous reporter), I’ll call it a reboot. But whatever you want to call it, Warner Bros. says that this new version “will be a smart action comedy that plays out on a bigger canvas than the previous movies.”
Per THR, “The 11 mystery books, the first of which was published in 1974, center on a reporter named I.M. Fletcher who juggles writing exposes while avoiding headaches caused by his two ex-wives.” Since I’ve never read any of the Fletch novels, I don’t know if Mandel’s the right guy for the job, but his credits include Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming comedy The Dictator, and the underrated EuroTrip (that’s right: I’ll go to bat for EuroTrip), so I think Warners at least has a talented writer on board. The project is a high-priority for the studio and they’re looking at it as a vehicle for an A-list comedy star. Hit the jump for a synopsis of the first novel.
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Sacha Baron Cohen is interested in the lead role of New Line’s remake of the Spanish Torrente films. Santiago Segura is creator and star in the action-comedy series about Jose Luis Torrente, a racist and corrupt cop. At least, that’s how the franchise started out. Three films in (with a fourth on the way) and Torrente has been fired from the force. He continues to enact justice in the neighborhood as a vigilante with only the loosest sense of a moral code. Adam Sandler appears to be a fan: Segura landed a role as Sandler’s beau in Jack and Jill.
Hit the jump for more on the remake, plus the trailer for the original.
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On Wednesday, we reported that Sacha Baron Cohen and Curb Your Enthusiasm writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel were pitching an untitled comedy to studios. Today, Deadline reports that Paramount has paid big bucks for the project. The reason it’s such a big deal for Cohen is that he’s getting “$20 million against 20% first-dollar gross,” which could yield $30M-$50M-$80M. Additionally, Cohen will get approval over all the elements and the only way the film doesn’t get made is if Cohen doesn’t approve of the script (which he’ll co-write with Berg, Schaeffer, and Mandel). However, the project is budgeted at $65 million so it doesn’t have a huge price tag. Deadline says the untitled comedy will be Cohen’s next film but doesn’t make clear if that means he’ll make it before he does Martin Scorsese’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (provided he’s still attached to it).
So what’s this film about? Story details are being kept under wraps, but Deadline says that Cohen will play two characters: a goat herder and a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States. The film is said to be in the vein of Coming to America and Trading Place. That sounds better than the one long gay joke that was Bruno.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Curb Your Enthusiasm writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel are pitching an untitled comedy to various studios. Deadline reports that the quartet hit four studios yesterday and will finish up today. Schaffer was one of the writers on Cohen’s last film, Bruno. Berg, Schaffer, and Mandel previously collaborated on the films Eurotrip and The Cat in the Hat. No details yet on what this new comedy is actually about.
Cohen is currently set to co-star in Martin Scorsese’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The Borat star is also rumored to star in the remake of the 1947 adventure comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.