Richard Ayoade's next project, a take on Dostoyevsky's doppelganger novella The Double, already had Jesse Eisenberg attached in the title role. It now has a full cast in place and a start date too.
Shooting will commence on May 20 in London, with Eisenberg joined by James Fox, Wallace Shawn and **Submarine **pair Noah Taylor and Yasmin Paige. Alice In Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska is also on board but won't be clambering back into period garb: Ayoade is putting a modern spin on the book's 1840s setting, doing for Dostoyevsky what Cold Souls did for his compatriot Chekhov.
That much you may already know, but it's good to see that Ayoade's Hollywood duties on Akiva Schaffer's The Watch (formerly Neighborhood Watch) haven't kept him from the important business of nuggeting out a second directorial effort of his own.
The Double will see Eisenberg follow in the footsteps of Dominic Cooper and Armie Hammer and play two characters. This time there's a metaphysical twist: ineffectual clerk Simon finds his intensely charismatic doppelganger, James, working in his office and suddenly playing Trent to his Mikey. Disconcerting stuff, because the price for falling under James's spell is madness.
With Submarine's many qualities in mind, this is one to keep an eye on, not least for giving Eisenberg to shed his demure screen persona to go seriously alpha. With Studiocanal distributing the film in the UK, it's safe to expect it on our screens some time in 2013.