The indie comedy Goats, based on Mark Poirier’s best-selling novel, tells the story of Ellis (Graham Phillips), a 15-year-old looking to find his place among his eccentric family.  His mom (Vera Farmiga) is a New Age hippie that spends all of her time working on self-help rituals with her hustler boyfriend (Justin Kirk), while his dad (Ty Burrell) left home years ago and is more focused on his new wife (Keri Russell) and family.  And then, there’s Goat Man (David Duchovny), the goat-herding sage who has lived in their pool house since Ellis was a child, teaching him the meaning of expanding one’s mind.

At the film’s press day, actor Graham Phillips spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about the long road to getting this film made (including the role of Goat Man being recast with Kevin Kline, at one point), how much fun he had exploring a teenaged character with so much substance, the biggest challenges in working with the goats, what it’s been like to grow up with his character on the CBS drama series The Good Wife, why he wants to be picky about the roles he takes, and his desire to also write and direct.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The first trailer for the indie comedy Goats has landed online.  Directed by Christopher Neil,  the film is based on the novel of the same name by Mark Jude Poirier and tells the coming of age story of a 15-year-old boy (Graham Phillips) who moves from his new age mother’s (Vera Farmiga) South-Western home to an East Coast prep school where his estranged father (Ty Burrell) was once a star student.  The trailer isn’t particularly funny, and David Duchovy is quite strange as the goat-llving beau of Farmiga’s character.  Matt caught the film earlier this year at Sundance and wasn’t a big fan (you can read his review here).

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Keri Russell, Ty Burell and Justin Kirk.  Goats opens on August 10th.

I don’t really care if teenagers learn life lessons anymore.  The coming-of-age genre has become as stolid as the rom-com, but the coming-of-age movies still get a pass because they’re done under the auspices of being indie and artistic.  Goats makes an odd trade-off for the genre.  The movie doesn’t pack its main character full of quirks, but instead of growing as a person, he goes from a mostly-boring kid to a completely-boring kid.  All the quirks are for the one-dimensional characters who have almost no impact on his life.  The only fascinating thing about Goats is the values it preaches.

Today, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced their premieres line-up. Along with the announcement comes a boat load of images from the films set to be showcased at the fest. After the jump we’ve got images and syonpses from Celeste and Jesse Forever (starring Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, and Elijah Wood), Lay the Favorite (starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Catherine Zeta-Jones), GOATS (starring David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, and Ty Burrell), and Shadow Dancer (starring Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson, and Clive Owen).

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th.

David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver, and Will Arnett have joined Ty Burrell and Graham Phillips (Evan Almighty) in Christopher Neil’s indie comedy Goats.  The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mark Jude Poirier (Smart People).  With the exception of Duchovny, this is a very different cast than the one that was attached a year ago, which according to The Playlist, included Hopper Penn, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, Jason Schwartzman, and Robert Schwartzman.  Here’s the synopsis from the press release:

The coming of age story follows 15 year-old, Ellis (Phillips) as he moves from Wendy, his flakey, new age mother’s (Farmiga) South-Western home to an East Coast prep school where his estranged father Frank (Burrell) was once a star student.  For Ellis, this means leaving behind the only real dad he has ever known, Goat Man (Duchovny), his pot-smoking, goat herding mentor, and ultimately needing to evaluate his new prep school lifestyle that’s in stark contrast to his stoner upbringing.  Rounding out the cast are Keri Russell as Frank’s new wife, Minnie Driver as Wendy’s best friend and yogic advisor Johanna, and Will Arnett as Wendy’s boyfriend Bennett.

Hit the jump for the full press release.  Filming is set to begin in February.