Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass‘ Sleepwalk with Me is one of the year’s must-see films.  It takes a fascinating look into the world of stand-up comedy, but it also provides a great conflict between loving your work and loving a person, and how moving towards one can cause painful revelations about the other.  It’s heavy stuff that never weighs down the picture because Birbiglia, a stand-up comic, has created a hilarious, honest story.

The movie had a limited run in theaters, but now it’s available on VOD, and I highly encourage you to check it out.  As a bonus, Birbiglia and Glass will be hosting a video chat on Friday for your pizza party if you want to gather your friends and watch the movie.  Hit the jump to check out a message from Birbiglia and Glass, and for details on how you can get them to video chat with your pizza party.

There aren’t enough movies like Sleepwalk with Me.  Mike Birbiglia’s one-man-show-performance now turned narrative feature is smart, funny, sad and just downright great.  Birbiglia uses his own autobiographical experiences dealing with a sleepwalking disorder to comment on the uncertainties of forming a career and the dissolution of a relationship.  It’s a film that isn’t afraid to paint Birbiglia in a less than flattering light – and it feels all the more honest and true because of it. Sleepwalk with Me is easily among the best indies released this year and one of the best of the now winding down summer – which is why it’s unfortunate that Joss Whedon, director of the biggest film of the year (i.e. The Avengers), has put it upon himself to take down this little film.  See here for filmic proof.  I guess the multiplexes just aren’t big enough for the both of them. And to add insult to injury – the week Sleepwalk with Me opens in twenty-five cities (check your local listings), Marvel re-releases The Avengers. Coincidence – I think not.

In the following interview, Birbiglia and producer Ira Glass (This American Life) respond to Whedon’s promotions (err… attacks) on their film, challenge the billion dollar gross of The Avengers and discuss the plight of taking your shirt off on film for a buck or two.  For the full interview, hit the jump.

Tim Robbins began a second career as a director in the 1990s with Bob Roberts (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Cradle Will Rock (1999).  He took a break from features after that, though he directed a few television projects in the years since, including two episodes of Treme.  Robbins is ready to return to the big screen, as THR announces that the actor/director has signed a deal with Endgame Entertainment to helm City of Lies.  Captain America screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will adapt the Arthur Phillips short story Wenceslas Square, which follows two spies who fall in love while on separate missions in Prague.  Phillips read an abridged version of the story on This American Life.

TAL‘s Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp will produce along with Douglas E. Hansen (An Education) and Endgame’s James D. Stern (The Raven).  Philip Noyce was previously attached to direct before Robbins came on board.

The first trailer for stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me has gone online.  Birbiglia both directed and starred in the piece which tells the tale of a struggling comedian who faces a career slump and a failing relationship, amidst increasingly dangerous bouts of sleepwalking.  Fans of Birbiglia will recognize some of his signature jokes from his stand-up act by the same name.  It’s at once a humorous and touching tale that features the comedians signature Birbiglian style.  Sleepwalk with Me, also starring Lauren Ambrose, Kristen Schaal, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane , Cristin Milioti, Aya Cash, Lucy DeVito and David Wain, opens August 24th.  Hit the jump to view the trailer.

Fans of stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia (Cedar Rapids) and This American Life host Ira Glass will want to check out Sleepwalk with Me when it debuts later this summer.  The film, co-written and co-directed by Birbiglia, follows a struggling stand-up comic who is trying to balance a failing career, a rocky relationship and uncontrollable bouts of sleepwalking.  Glass co-wrote and produced the film, based on Birbiglia’s sucessful one-man show.  Sleepwalk with Me also stars Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn and Cristin Milioti. Look for it in theaters August 24th.  Hit the jump to check out the synopsis and new poster for Sleepwalk with Me.

Rob Thomas, Ira Glass, and Owen Wilson are teaming up at HBO for a drama series tentatively titled Thrillsville.  Variety says the series is inspired by the This American Life segment “Midlife Cowboy,” in which former methamphetamine smuggler James Spring tells the story of his inspiration to help others before his 40th birthday: “His quest led him to mount a search for two young girls who were kidnapped in Northern California in connection with drug-trade violence and taken to Baja California.”  His success in finding the girls led him to a new career as an investigator in missing person cases, which I imagine is how they will turn this into an ongoing series.

I’m a big fan of Thomas.  His lighter fare (Party Down, Cupid) is great, but his best work is Veronica Mars, so I’m in Thrillsville seeing him return to darker territory—especially at HBO.  There is no mention of Wilson doing anything but producing, but he would be a good fit in the starring role… I just ask that you consider it, Mr. Wilson.  Hit the jump for more on the story.

The NPR radio series This American Life has served as inspiration for many a recent screenplay (most notably The Informant!), a list which now includes Heretics from Marcus Hinchey (All Good Things).  Hinchey’s screenplay is based on the 2005 American Life episode of the same name, which centers on “Carlton Pearson, who was a rising star among evangelicals until he was ostracized by his own church and declared a heretic after he started preaching that there is no Hell.”

Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) is co-producing the project under his Apparatus banner, and may eventually direct.  Hit the jump for a statement from TAL writer/producer/host Ira Glass and a full synopsis.