As we gear up towards one of the most heated elections in our country’s history, people are getting a little (OK, a lot) stressed out:  political pundits are viciously attacking one another—and Batman movies—in the press, candidates are slinging mud via increasingly-aggro campaign ads, and voters on both sides of the aisle seem poised to tear one another limb from limb.  Seems like we could all use a good laugh right about now, doesn’t it?  Good news is, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, writer Chris Henchy and director Jay Roach’s The Campaign is here to provide that much-needed dose of anger-deflating political comedy.

I visited the set of the film a few months ago, and have returned with 20 things you need to know about The Campaign before it opens next month.  Wanna know more?  Meet me after the jump.

Director Jay Roach has been gearing up for The Campaign for years now, even if it wasn’t a conscious decision:  the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis-starring politi-comedy (arriving August 10^th) might—at first glance—seem like the sort of thing that any comedy director might be able to tackle, but look closer and you’ll see a film that needed the touch of someone familiar with the world of politics.  After his last two films (Recount and Game Change), Roach was the perfect guy for the job.

Along with some other online press, I traveled to The Campaign set back in February.  While there, we had a chance to speak with Roach about working with Galifianakis and Ferrell, where Roach’s career path almost took him, and to find out just how much of The Campaign is based in reality.  Wanna know what he had to say for himself?  Meet me after the jump.

Jason Sudeikis has joined Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in Jay Roach‘s political comedy Dog Fight.  The movie, formerly titled Southern Rivals, is about rival politicians (Ferrell and Galifianakis) in a small congressional district in South Carolina (hence the original title).  THR doesn’t say what role Sudeikis will play but hopefully it won’t be the smarmy lothario he played three times this year (Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses, and A Good Old Fashioned Orgy).  The film also stars Sarah Baker (In Gayle We Trust) and Katherine LaNasa (Valentine’s Day).  Filming is set to begin in mid-November in New Orleans for an August 2012 release.

While it’s encouraging that Shawn Harwell (Eastbound & Down) and frequent Ferrell collaborator Chris Henchy (The Other Guys) wrote the script, I’m wary of Roach.  He botched the dark comedy in Dinner for Schmucks, but maybe he’ll fare better at politics since he directed the election dramas Recount and the upcoming Game Change.