Seth Rogen is set to star in the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Brandon Trost, per Variety. The duo have worked together previously on films such as This Is The End and The Disaster Artist, and Trost has used his skills to show that Hollywood comedies don’t have to be blandly shot with little imagination.
Thanks to his visual panache, he’s been given the opportunity to direct a comedy based on Simon Rich‘s New Yorker novella, which will star Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, a struggling labourer who immigrates to America in 1918 with dreams of building a better life for his loving family.
Doesn’t sound like your typical Rogen comedy thus far, does it? Don’t worry, we’re getting there. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles and is brined for 100 years (see?). The brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present day Brooklyn, he finds that he hasn’t aged a day.
But when he seeks out his family, he is horrified to learn that his only surviving relative is his great grandson, Ben (also to be played by Rogen), a mild-mannered computer coder whom Herschel can’t even begin to understand.
Rich will adapt his own novella with Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver producing through their Point Grey banner. Production is due to begin sometime next month in Pittsburgh, and will probably lead to a 2019 release. If so, that will make Rogen’s upcoming year a busy one, as he’s got another comedy titled Flarsky, in which he stars alongside Charlize Theron, opening June 7, 2019.
He’s also voicing Pumbaa in the live-action Lion King, which hits cinemas July 19, 2019. He’s also set to play Walter Cronkite in the drama Newsflash, and will co-star in James Franco‘s Zeroville, though it’s possible that film never sees the light of day.
Either way, next year should be a bit of a Rogen-fest. We’ll wait and see if the film about magical pickle brine is the best of the lot.
#Peace.Love.SethRogen
