Mark Duplass, Dianne Wiest And Sam Shepard Cast In Lawrence Kasdan’s ‘Darling Companion’
Though he’s been announced as attached to a few projects over the past couple years,Lawrence Kasdanhasn’t written or directed a produced film sinceDreamcatcherin 2003. (He has done script work, like the polish on the script for the action version ofParadise Lostthat Alex Proyas justsigned to direct.)
But now Kasdan will directDarling Companionfrom a script he wrote withMeg Kasdan, and he’s just addedMark Duplass,Dianne WiestandSam Shepardto the cast.
THRnotes thatDiane Keaton,Kevin Kline,Richard JenkinsandElizabeth Mosswere already cast in the film. The story is unusual; I can’t tell if this is going to be pure tearjerking sap or something that promises sentiment on the surface before diving into something more complicated.
The story follows “what happens when a man loses his wife’s beloved dog after a wedding in the Rockies and they enlist the remaining guests to go in search of it.”
Werk Werk Werks, the team behindHowlandLife During Wartime, is financing the film. Kasdan toldAnne Thompson,
It’s a struggle to reach this older audience…They’re out there dying to go to the movies but it’s harder to get them to come the first weekend. It’s harder to penetrate with advertising. Anything harder is not on anyone’s agenda anymore.
That suggests that Kasdan is making a movie that probably won’t be too unusual, but is hopefully going to approach simple, mature subject matter in a respectable way. It’s a far cry fromDreamcatcherand recent writing gigs likeRobotechand an early draft of theClash of the Titansremake. But as Thompson’s piece points out, the movies that Kasdan once made now go to young whiz-kid directors. And why not move on to indie, adult-oriented material that better reflects Kasdan’s own life and/or experience?
Darling Companionis scheduled to start shooting within the next week, in Utah.
