It was just a couple of weeks ago that Hollywood was prematurely pouring one out for Jack Nicholson and his career. “I think he is basically retired. I don’t want to speak for him, but he has done a lot of work and he has done very well as a person financially,” Peter Fonda told Page Six recently about his hellraisin’ pal. Well, to put it lightly, he don’t know Jack.
Nicholson has signed up to star in a Hollywood remake of Maren Ade‘s Best Foreign Film nominee “Toni Erdmann.” Ade herself, along with Adam McKay and Will Ferrell are among the producers of the project that’s set up over at Paramount, and seems to be in early days, as there’s no screenwriter or director attached just yet. But either way, the movie will see Nicholson playing the titular character, a prankster who goes to extreme, disguise-wearing lengths to connect with his career focused daughter. On paper, or computer screen, that doesn’t sound like much, but the movie is really about the weirdness that sometimes binds family and makes us who we are, with Ade also exploring the ongoing creep of globalization. I’d presume though the American version will be more focused on hijinks.
The role will mark Nicholson’s first since 2010’s largely forgotten “How Do You Know.” We’re still wrapping our heads around this, and while we’ll always be a bit resistant to a redo, the casting is pretty inspired. And hell, it’s good have Jack back. [Variety]
Update: Kristen Wiig is joining the project playing the lead Sandra Huller role. Not unsurprising given how often McKay, Ferrell and Wiig have worked together or at least plotted projects with one another. Wiig and Ferrell last worked together on Lifetime Movie “A Deadly Adoption.”