Well, this would have been the best news of the day, but Peter Jackson just signed on to produce The Hobbit. It looks like Ewan McGregor will be jim Carey’s prison lover in the upcoming I Love You Phillip Morris. We get the scoop from the professionals at Variety:
Ewan McGregor will play the romantic lead opposite Jim Carrey in “I Love You Phillip Morris,” a dark comedy that marks the directing debut of “Bad Santa” scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
Carrey signed earlier in the fall to star in the fact-based tale as Steven Russell, a married father whose conman ways introduced him to the Texas prison system. There, he fell in love with cellmate Phillip Morris. His love for Morris motivated his escape from prisons four times, once by using a green pen and bucket of water to change his prison outfit into what appeared to be surgical scrubs, another time by faking his death from AIDS and signing his own death certificate. Morris eventually got out, but Russell’s escapades got him a 144-year sentence.
This is glorious and legendary news. The irreverent and twisted scribes that brought us the comedy masterpiece that is Bad Santa will now be at the helm of pen and camera. I have stressed before how excited I am that Jim Carey will be working with these dudes, and adding Ewan McGregor to the list of awesome is just peachy.
This crazy dark comedy is based on a true story, which is shocking in its own right; but to have it retold through the perverted minds of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa is going to be the stuff of legend. I love Bad Santa, it is a terribly dark movie that continues to stand as a comedic beacon amongst a sea of shit.
I would hazard a guess that in order for Ewan to sign on as a prison “bitch”, the script for this film would have to be good. I could be reaching here, he may just want a paycheck, but I have a hunch that this film is going to push boundaries, and make tears of laughter flow anew!
I anticipate this film greatly and will keep you all abreast as news updates are made available.
