I might be in the minority here, but I actually like Dan Fogler. I won't deny that the dude's earned the "Poor Man's Jack Black" title thanks to his roles in Good Luck Chuck and Balls of Fury, but I think he'll break out of that shell soon enough.
Fogler is slated to play Alfred Hitchcock in an upcoming Ewan McGregor thriller and, Variety reports, HBO just hired him to play Sam Kinison in Brother Sam, an upcoming TV biopic about the controversial stand-up comic.
Fogler will do his best Kinison interpretation for Tom Shadyc, director of (shudder) broad comedies like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Evan Almighty. Shadyc's involvement might not be a plus for this project, but there's still hope. The Brother Sam script was written by Shary Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, writers of American Splendor, the great 2003 Harvey Pekar biopic. That movie was praised for two things -- it's inventive storytelling and Paul Giamatti's amazing lead performance. Of course, Berman and Pulcini directed American Splendor, but maybe Shadyc won't disappoint.
Austin Powers director Jay Roach, also known for broad comedies, did a great job with Recount, HBO's tense political drama about the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Maybe Shadyc will repeat that formula and deliver an awesome tribute to Kinison. Maybe.
1. This sounds interesting. I wonder how deep they'll delve into Kinison's pentecostal roots.
Posted at 6:38PM on Nov 18th 2008 by John C. Calhoun