Joel McHale spent four (and a bit) seasons acting with Chevy Chase on cult sitcom Community. But could it all have been in aid of studying him so he can play the man in a new movie? No, but it's an entertaining theory, and McHale is indeed taking on the role of Chase for A Futile And Stupid Gesture.
Yesterday brought word that Domhnall Gleeson had joined the cast of the film, which charts the bizarre life of one of the co-founders of National Lampoon, Douglas Kenney. Will Forte is playing Kenney to Gleeson's Henry Beard, who helped launched the magazine spin-off from the Harvard Lampoon after they and fellow student Robert Huffman graduated. Together, the men created a major force and brand in the American comedy world in the 1970s.
And as the magazine's popularity led to movies, Kenney became obsessed with a Hollywood lifestyle, eventually ending up as a drug and alcohol addict before falling off a cliff in Hawaii under mysterious circumstances. He knew Chase through his work on the Lampoon movies, and the actor was with him in Hawaii before his death, had returned to LA for film work, and was preparing to head back to Hawaii when he learned that his friend was missing.
With Broad City actor John Gemberling signing up to play John Belushi, Wet Hot American Summer's David Wain is directing the film for Netflix, and plans to kick off shooting later this month.