Warner Bros. is keeping me intrigued in their upcoming romantic comedy Something Borrowed with some savvy casting, and not in that everyone-has-an-Oscar way. I'd travel to Hades and back for female lead Ginnifer Goodwin. John Krasinski is consistently great on The Office, and his supporting role in Borrowed could be the one that sends him over that darned feature film hump. I don't know much about co-star Colin Egglesfield, and they lost me a bit in signing Kate Hudson for the best friend role. But a tweet from Production Weekly recaptures that energy with word of a wild (in every sense of the word) card in talks for the role of Marcus: Colin Farrell. Hmm. Let's talk about this in more detail after the jump.
The film is an adaptation of the first in a series of novels from Emily Giffin. Here's a plot synopsis for the literary original:
Since elementary school, Rachel and Darcy have been best friends, with Darcy always outshining Rachel. While single Rachel is the self-confessed good girl, an attorney trapped at a suffocating New York law firm, Darcy is the complete opposite, a stereotypical outgoing publicist, planning a wedding with the handsome Dex. After Rachel's 30th birthday party, she knocks back one drink too many and winds up in bed with Dex. Instead of feeling guilty about sleeping with her best friend's fiancé, Rachel realizes that Dex is the only man she's really loved, and that she's always resented manipulative Darcy.
The plot isn't particularly revolutionary, so it's up to the aforementioned cast, director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door), and new-to-film screenwriters Jennie Snyder and Jennie Urman to make something of the material. The three mentioned characters will be played by Goodwin (Rachel), Hudson (Darcy), and Egglesfield (Dex); Krasinski is Ethan, friend of Rachel, and Farrell's Marcus is a friend of Dex. I like that the presumed starring roles have been assigned to Goodwin and Egglesfield, who are arguably less identifiable commodities than their co-stars--it's gotta be hard to cast Hudson in a Hollywood rom-com where the largest typeface on the poster will not be reserved for her name. And I can't even envision a version of this movie where Farrell is bland. Maybe if they try to stick him with an American accent?
This could be good, even great, no? Am I blinded by my undying love for Ginnifer Goodwin? For those who have read the book, please share your thoughts on how the tone of Giffin's prose will translate on film. This is a potential franchise in the making, with a direct sequel (Something Blue) and a spin-off novel (Heart of the Matter) already listed on Giffin's bibliography, so I am optimistic for the best.
