John Lithgow is basically Nicolas Cage, if Nicolas Cage cared about his career. Both actors have distinct cadences and mannerisms, and can deliver wildly over the top performances, but Lithgow seems to genuinely give a shit about what projects he attaches himself to, whilst Cage recently appeared in a film trailer where he pissed fire.
The past few years have been particularly good for Lithgow. He became the first actor to give the commencement speech at Harvard University, won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his work on “Dexter,” starred in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” as well as Judd Apatow’s next untitled film (“This Is Forty”), and he’s currently on a book tour promoting his autobiography.
Hopefully Lithgow can hit up a few southern independent bookstores on the weekends, as he the actor has joined the cast of the Jay Roach-directed Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis election-themed comedy, “Dog Fight.” It is unclear what Lithgow’s role will be, but with Dylan McDermott recently signing on to play a member of Galifianakis’s staff, it’s safe to guess that Lithgow might be adding some star power to Ferrell’s team.
To all intents and purposes, we're feeling this feels like another entry from the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay writing/directing team, a la "Step Brothers" and "The Other Guys," with the exception that McKay isn't directing this time out (he's got comic book flick "The Guys" and a Lee Atwater biopic on his dance card instead). The pair co-wrote a film every two years from 2004-2008, with McKay directing each one, then 2010’s “The Other Guys” was the first project Ferrell didn’t co-write. But we wouldn't worry too much; McKay's producing, and 'Other Guys' co-writer Chris Henchy has penned the script — it's likely a question of busy schedules.
Generally speaking, the cast of "Dog Fight" keeps getting better and better with Jason Sudeikis and Brian Cox recently signing on to join the comic megastars, and we're sure more are still to come. Between this film and Apatow’s latest (as well as a recurring role on Jason Segel sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," it’s starting to look like Lithgow is becoming a fixture of the mainstream comedy world. "Dog Fight" will hit theaters on August 10th, 2012. [Variety]