Now that the awards hoopla is far in his rear view mirror, The Descendants director Alexander Payne has been able to spend some more time properly setting up his next film, Nebraska. And it appears he’s already zeroing in on the leads, with former SNL regular Will Forte and veteran Bruce Dern in his sights.
Nebraska has been squatting on Payne’s To Do list for years now, coming close to gearing up several times but somehow remaining just out of sight. The main issue has been casting the central role, that of a cranky, alcoholic old man who receives a sweepstakes letter and thinks he’s hit the jackpot. He heads out on a road trip to claim his fortune, with his underachieving son tagging along.
Payne really wanted Gene Hackman to play the crotch pot, but Hackman has been retired for a while and couldn’t be convinced to come back to acting. Now Dern is top of the list for a role that has attracted plenty of interest for actors of the right age range. It’s also a good opportunity for Forte, who has struggled a little in his post SNL film career – while he’s snagged and worked well with some great supporting roles (and solid TV work on the likes of 30 Rock), his big shot at comedy stardom, MacGruber, fizzled at the box office.
No final deals have been made yet, but it’s the closest that Payne has come to getting the movie made so far, having re-written the script with Cedar Rapids’ Phil Johnston. But even if we have to wait a little longer for the ever-careful director to narrow down what he needs to make the film, it hopefully means less of a wait between his movies this time.