James McAvoy has joined the cast as the lead of the disease comedy — formerly titled, I’m With Cancer” — which already has Seth Rogen attached in a supporting role (he’s also a producer on the project as well).
Nicole Holofcener (“Lovely & Amazing”) has been tapped to direct the now-untitled Will Reisner script based on his “I’m With Cancer” novel.
McAvoy will play the 25-year-old protagonist who learns he has cancer with Rogen presumably playing a close friend. The film isn’t just another risque comedy from the book of Judd Apatow as the source material is an autobiography based on writer Reiser’s (a producer of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show”) personal experiences being diagnosed with the disease in his mid-20s and successfully battling it over several years.
Early comparisons have already been made of the sure-to-be dramedy with recent Rogen-starrer “Funny People” which also has a cancer plotline. “‘I’m with Cancer’ existed as a script before ‘Funny People,’ but they were written around the same time,” Rogen said, preemptively defending the similarities recently. “They are, oddly, very different. Even though, even in my head, they’re kind of about similar things. So I would say they’re pretty different movies.”
Rogen is also set to produce the pic alongside partner Evan Goldberg and Ben Karlin of “The Daily Show” fame. Shooting will begin in January after Rogen is done with his upcoming superhero flick “The Green Hornet.” [ScreenDaily]