Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, And Damon Wayans Jr. Join Will Ferrell’s The Other Guys
Filming onThe Other Guys,the ‘10 cop comedy from writer/directorAdam McKay(Step Brothers, Anchorman) rollsthis month in New York, and today sees three new additions to the cast. Formerly entitledThe B Team, I’m curious to see what McKay has up his twisted sleeve, because the buddy-cop formula isn’t just asthmatic, it’s cliche to the point of surreality, and he’ll also haveHot Fuzzto contend with.
The film starsWill FerrellandMark Wahlberg(hmm) as desk-assigned five-ohs; hardly any solid details about McKay’s script, written with palChris Henchy(Land of the Lost),have hit online and we don’t have a copy. Nor were details made available about the roles ofEva"iguanas and crack"Mendes,Damon Wayans Jr., and last butbest, friggin’Michael Keaton,who I’ve heard mentioned for another awesome comedy project recently.There’s a bit of “because they’re both black” speculation today that Wayans Jr. might be playing a role previously attached to master-chefCraig Robinson.Robinson would play a competitive police partner toRob Riggle, who also knows a thing or two about playing blockheaded macho-types. Here’s what McKay revealed toMTVabout the plot…
McKay has also mentioned in interviews thatThe Other Guyswill be more grounded in reality and work as an action film. I look forward to hearing more specifics about Keaton’s role, as it would be great to see him sink his teeth into a fucked-up villain role, rather than as a peripheral cop a laJackie Brown. In fact, the movie seems to play into McKay’s developing interest in shot-putting comedy into new genres, coinciding with a far-out-sounding sci-fi project he has on deck entitledChannel Three Billion. We’ll have more onThe Other Guysas it comes in. One thing is for sure, the action concept aside, Ferrell hasn’t been mellowing out; his last two roles inLand of the Lostand in the smoke-a-bowl-watch-Comedy Central cult prospect,The Goods, were two of his strangest in years.
