After struggling to hold on to actors and directors for a long time, it looks like sci-fi comedy Neighborhood Watch is suddenly enjoying some real momentum. Just a couple of weeks ago, the film scored Ben Stiller to star, and now his old Dodgeball** **co-star Vince Vaughn is in negotiations to sign on alongside him.
The plot finds Stiller as a big city bloke who figures he’s in for a life of crushing boredom when he moves out to the suburbs. But he gets far more than he ever expected when he begrudgingly joins the local neighbourhood watch (spelt in the correct British fashion now we don’t have to write it as the title!), as the local area is afflicted not by burglars, but by alien invaders…
Weirdly, even though the film has been in development for years (Will Ferrell was attached to star at one point), when it does arrive, it may end up feeling like a mash-up of Hot Fuzz and Attack the Block, though we doubt 20th Century Fox will worry too much about that, since the studio is pushing ahead with the movie. **Hot Rod’**s Akiva Schaffer is aboard to direct, and he’ll work from a new draft of the script which Tropic Thunder’s Justin Theroux has now agreed to write, working from the most recent version by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
According to the LA Times, there are a host of other roles that will likely be filled by comedy types, so expect the casting stream on this one to start gushing shortly…