After finding success as a writer with the likes of King Of The Hill, Tropic Thunder and** Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa**, Etan Cohen is looking to direct a film. His latest project is Get Hard, which boasts Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, and Cohen's planning to direct.
Despite that snigger-trigger title, it’s not some Walk Hard-style spoof of Boogie Nights. The plot finds Ferrell playing a nerdy investment bank manager who is screwed over by a rich client and framed for massive fraud. When he can’t wriggle out of the unfair charges, he hires the streetwise guy normally found washing his car (Hart) to train him up to be tough before his stint in prison.
Though it sounds like one of those notions that has been done many times before (Rob Schneider’s 2007 film** Big Stan** has a similar riff), Warner Bros. will be hoping that Ian Roberts and Jay Martel’s script can wring fresh laughs out of the idea.
It’s not the first directing gig Cohen has landed: he’s getting ready to start work on **Daddy’s Home, which also features Ferrell, this time with Vince Vaughn.