The names John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein will be popping up more and more frequently over the next few years, as the very funny scribes responsible for Horrible Bosses have been working on a number of projects in that successful comedy’s wake.  I recently sat down with the screenwriters in Las Vegas at the press junket for the magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (which they wrote), and during the course of our conversation, the two talked about a few of their upcoming films.

While we'll have the full interview available closer to the release of Burt Wonderstone, today we wanted to share what they had to say about the Vacation movie that they wrote and are directing, and the book series adaptation Secret Histories.  The two revealed that filming on Vacation begins this summer and teased the return of some castmembers from the previous films, and also talked about “world building” with their rewrite work on Secret Histories.  Hit the jump to read on.

Daley and Goldstein wrote the script for a new Vacation movie for New Line Cinema before subsequently signing on to make their feature directing debut with the film.  Ed Helms is poised to play the grown-up Rusty Griswold, and I asked the duo when production might begin:

John Francis Daley: We’re shooting in June in Atlanta and in New Mexico.

Jonathan Goldstein: Rusty Griswold is grown-up, and that’s Ed Helms. We’re casting the other parts now and it’s pretty exciting. I mean we’ve been directing shorts together, but this is our first feature. When we wrote the script we didn’t know we’d be directing it and then New Line said, “Do you wanna pitch yourselves to direct it?” And we were like “You bet!”

Daley: And then we looked at the script and it was like, “who wrote this piece of shit?”

Goldstein: We immediately turned into directors.

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I asked the two if they had any plans to bring back some original castmembers from the previous films, and they responded affirmatively:

Daley: We do [have plans to bring people back].

Goldstein: We’re in the process of having those conversations.

Another project that Daley and Goldstein recently worked on was a live-action/CG hybrid adaptation of Ari Berk’s book series Secret Histories.  The duo performed a rewrite on the script and talked a bit about the status of the project:

Daley: I think they’re going out to cast now with that.

Goldstein: That’s what they said. It’s what our agent keeps calling “world creation”... it’s creating this world about a nerdy guy who discovers a reason he’s such a nerd is that he’s part elf, and then just putting him in this secret order where it turns out he has potential to be a hero. So it’s a wish-fulfillment kind of thing.

Check back tomorrow for updates from Daley and Goldstein on Horrible Bosses 2 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and look for our full interview next week.  Read the portion of the transcript regarding Vacation and Secret Histories below.

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Adam: I am very much looking forward to your Vacation movie. Do you know when that will be getting started?

JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We’re shooting in June in Atlanta and in New Mexico.

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: Rusty Griswold is grown-up, and that’s Ed Helms. We’re casting the other parts now and it’s pretty exciting. I mean we’ve been directing shorts together, but this is our first feature. When we wrote the script we didn’t know we’d be directing it and then New Line said, “Do you wanna pitch yourselves to direct it?” And we were like “You bet!”

DALEY: And then we looked at the script and it was like, “who wrote this piece of shit?”

GOLDSTEIN: We immediately turned into directors.

Do you have any plans to bring back any of the other original cast members or anything?

DALEY: We do, we do.

GOLDSTEIN: We’re in the process of having those conversations.

Can you tease anything about Secret Histories? If I am not mistaken you guys did some script work on that as well.

DALEY: I think they’re going out to cast now with that.

GOLDSTEIN: That’s what they said. It’s what our agent keeps calling “world creation”... it’s creating this world about a nerdy guy who discovers a reason he’s such a nerd is that he’s part elf, and then just putting him in this secret order where it turns out he has potential to be a hero. So it’s a wish-fulfillment kind of thing. 

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