He was once one of the biggest names in Hollywood thanks to his work with Steven Spielberg, but at 64 years of age it’s now more of a case of finding work wherever he can for Richard Dreyfuss. A couple of potentially interesting roles in “Poseidon” and “W.” in the last decade haven’t led to much since, and his last couple of notable roles have been a gag on his “Jaws” role in “Piranha 3D” and a small part in “Red” — a film which practically put out an open casting call for anyone over 60 with a recognizable face. Still, we’re always happy to see Dreyfuss pop up in a film no matter what the role is, and we’re betting there’s still a shed-load of directors out there who’d count themselves lucky to be able to work with him.
Two directors who seem to fall into that category are Robert Luketic and Naomi Foner. Luketic has signed up Dreyfuss to star in “Paranoia” alongside an increasingly strong looking cast, which includes Liam Hemsworth, Amber Heard, Lucas Till, Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. The film is a thriller about a boss who blackmails one of his young employees (Hemsworth) to spy on a rival company. Naomi Foner meanwhile adds Dreyfuss to the cast of “Very Good Girls,” which tells the story of two New York City girls who make a pact to lose their virginity but fall for the same street artist. Elizabeth Olsen, Dakota Fanning, Demi Moore, Peter Sarsgaard and Boyd Holbrook are all already signed on, and we’re going to take a punt and guess that Dreyfuss won’t be playing the sexy street artist. At least, we hope not anyway.
So there’s no confirmation on what kind of involvement Dreyfuss will have with either film, but we think it’s fairly safe to assume they’ll both be small supporting roles. Variety also notes that both films will begin shooting in July, so Dreyfuss will probably just finish up his work on one and head straight over to the set of the other. We’ll next see Dreyfuss in “The Big Valley,” the film adaptation of the 1960’s television series of the same name. Lee Majors, Bruce Dern and Jessica Lange will all join him in that one, as well as Sara Paxton representing the younger generation.
