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Yesterday I posted part one of "Seven Days With Producer Neal Moritz".  During the first installment from my extended interview, we discussed Fast and the Furious 5 and 6 as well as the reboot of Highlander.  For today's installment, I've got an update on the feature film adaptation of the graphic novel R.I.P.D. (Rest In Peace Department) and the David Dobkin's directed comedy The Change-Up.

The big news is Moritz told me Ryan Reynolds will be starring in R.I.P.D. and that it's hopefully going to film next January - right after he films The Change-Up alongside Jason Bateman.  For more on both projects, hit the jump.

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If you're not familiar with R.I.P.D., Peter Lenkov wrote the series and here's how Moritz described the movie:

"It's about two cops, one recently dead and a gunslinger who's been dead for hundreds of years who work on the Rest in Peace department - which is the police department of the dead. And they basically...it takes place on a normal day and it's about trying to keep the dead quiet."

He went on to say it's going to be PG-13 and it's a buddy action/comedy.  He said Reynolds would play the cop who just died and the other lead hasn't been cast yet.

Regarding The Change-Up, the film is going to star Reynolds and Jason Bateman and it's about two people that switch bodies. Filming is scheduled to begin this October and it's going to be rated R.

Now before you start thinking the movie sounds a bit sketchy...Lucas Moore (The Hangover) wrote it and David Dobkin's is directing.  Dobkin's did Wedding Crashers.  What I'm trying to say is...with Bateman and Reynolds as the leads, I'm on board.  I'm just going to forget Dobkin's directed Fred Claus...

Here's the part of my interview with Moritz that covered R.I.P.D. and The Change-Up.  Look for more with Neal Moritz very soon.

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Collider: ...Which goes back to what I was also going to go to, Ryan Reynolds.

Neal Moritz:  Yes, we love him. We're going to do two movies with him. We're doing The Change-Up with him and we're doing R.I.P.D. with him.

What was the 2nd one you just mentioned...R.I....

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Moritz:  R.I.P.D.  Rest in peace department.  A terrific script by Manfredi & Hay at Universal that we hopefully going to make at the beginning of next year.

I'm not familiar with this project.

Moritz:  It's terrific based on the graphic novel. It's about two cops, one recently dead and a gunslinger who's been dead for hundreds of years who work on the Rest in Peace department - which is the police department of the dead. And they basically...it takes place on a normal day and it's about trying to keep the dead quiet.

That's a very interesting premise.

Moritz:  Terrific script. Great buddy comedy. Buddy Action/Comedy.

So is that an R-rated movie?

Moritz:  No, it's not. It's a PG-13 movie.

And so it's Ryan Reynolds and you're still figuring out who the...

Moritz:  Yes, he'll be teamed with somebody but it's a fantastic relationship between a cop who's recently died who would do anything to get back to his wife. And a gunslinger who died hundreds of years ago who has seen it all and is jaded by it all and it's the two of these guys together and it's the relationship between these two guys that is absolutely fantastic.

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With Ryan and the fact that he has Green Lantern and also I believe they're going to try and make a Deadpool and other things.

Moritz:  Yeah.

How hard is it to book his schedule at this point?

Moritz:  Well, this is...luckily for me he's going Change-Up for us in October and then R.I.P.D....R.I.P.D. is his favorite project. It's the thing he wants to do more than anything and we've scheduled that for January.

With Change-Up, what can you tell people about it? I know that there's been some log lines or one-liners.

Moritz:  It's Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds basically end up switching bodies. And it's a really funny high concept comedy directed by David Dobkin obviously who did Wedding Crashers. And written by Lucas Moore who wrote Hangover.

That's a pretty good pedigree.

Moritz:  Yes, I think so too.

Okay. Is this another PG-13?

Moritz:  R-rated.  Definitely R-rated.

Well how has it changed obviously for you with The Hangover going to be such a huge success.

Moritz:  I think there's many examples where R-rated movies have done very, very well. I just think that if you're going to make an R-rated movie, it has to be R-rated for a reason. Otherwise why...you don't need....and this movie would suffer if it wasn't R. And that's why it's R. I don't think it should be R just to be R, but it's what makes it a better movie and what's inherent with the movie, then you make it R.

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