Sexy Vampires, Unconvincing Southern Accents Unlikely To Feature
Despite winning an Oscar for his first feature “American Beauty” a decade ago, writer-turned-director Alan Ball has been mostly absent from the big screen, with the exception of his directorial debut “Towelhead” — which was seen by approximately twelve people, none of whom were us. Instead, he’s been a huge success as a writer/producer on two HBO series, “Six Feet Under” and “Twilight For People Who’ve Gone Through Puberty” “True Blood.” However, it looks like Ball’s set to make an imminent return to the big screen.
Deadline reports that Ball’s signed on to direct and produce an untitled “dark comedy with a twist” from writer Elan Mastai, which Paramount has acquired. Ball and Mastai wrote the story together: the latter also wrote the excellent script for the rom-com “The F-Word,” which is set to star Casey Affleck (word’s been very quiet on that one of late, with no news since Rebecca Hall, Rose Byrne and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were linked to the female lead, although Deadline suggests that it’s still moving towards production at Fox Searchlight).
Plot details are under wraps for the moment, but we’re pretty sure that with Ball involved, it won’t exactly be subtle: the man has the delicate touch of a combine harvester. Still, with Mastai writing, it’s definitely one to keep an eye on. There’s no news on when it’ll film, but we imagine the intention is to have a script ready for the next gap in Ball’s “True Blood” schedule.