Mr. Popper’s Penguins was set to star Ben Stiller and directed by Noah Baumbach, but creative differences has both of them walking away from the project. Well moneypants that owns the studio will likely get their creative vision, as it looks like Jim Carrey may step in.
The LA Times is reporting that Jim Carrey has been in talks with Fox about starring in the film, which director Mark Waters (MEAN GIRLS) is now attached to direct. This would almost certainly be a 180 degree turn from where Baumbach and Stiller were taking the film but in the end I believe a family-friendly blockbuster is precisely what Fox was looking for (and why Baumbach ultimately left).
When I first read this, I thought they meant that he was courting to play the Penguin in Batman 3, but its not that at all.
Mr Popper’s Penguins is a children’s book written in 1938 that tells the story of Mr Popper and the happenstance that has him recruiting a Penguin, then a mate, and finally ten offspring penguins. He then trains them to be a circus act before feeding the penguins bankrupts him.
Now I am curious as to what Stiller/Baumbach’s vision might have been for this story, but Carrey is odd enough of a fella that I could see training circus penguins.
