Though it seemed like Steve Carell might take a short step back from acting to concentrate on producing (he has more than one deal set up for both movies and TV), he’s been working consistently. And he’s just set up a new project, signing on to star in The Priority List for Warner Bros.{
The studio has taken the rights to David Menasche’s memoir, which carries the full title A Teacher’s Final Quest To Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons. Assuming it hits the screen, it’ll chronicle Menasche’s battle with brain cancer, kicked off by a diagnosis in 2006 that warned he’d be dead in months. Thanks to surgery and several rounds of chemotherapy, he extended his life and continued his teaching career until a seizure in 2012.
Undaunted, he set out on a cross-country journey to reconnect with his former students and figure out some life lessons along the way. He’s still learning them today.
There is no writer or director attached yet, which means it’ll have to compete with some of the other projects he has demanding his time, but Carell will produce the film with his regular partners. Work-wise, he’ll next be seen in Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which hits UK cinemas on October 24 and Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, which doesn’t have a release date yet.