Shooting comedies is hard. Far too many end up looking like high-end sitcoms, and while credit is due for framing and getting the funniest setup possible, rarely do you notice if a comedy looksgood. And yetBrandon Trosthas shown himself to be incredibly adept as a cinematographer for comedies having done outstanding work forThis Is the End,Neighbors, andThe Disaster Artist. Now he’s due to get in the director’s chair for a comedy that will see him reteaming withSeth Rogen.
Here’s the brief synopsis perVariety:
The film is based on Simon Rich’s New Yorker novella and stars Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, a struggling laborer who immigrates to America in 1918 with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles and is brined for 100 years. The brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present day Brooklyn, he finds that he hasn’t aged a day. But when he seeks out his family, he is horrified to learn that his only surviving relative is his great grandson, Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a mild-mannered computer coder whom Herschel can’t even begin to understand.
Rich will adapt his own novella with Rogen,Evan Goldberg, andJames Weaverproducing through their Point Grey banner. Production is expected to begin next month in Pittsburgh.
Rogen will likely have a busy 2019 with this movie probably due out sometime next year. He’s also got the comedyFlarskyoppositeCharlize Theron, which opens June 17, 2025, and he’s voicing Pumbaa in the live-action adaptation ofThe Lion King, which opens July 30, 2025. He’s also set to play Walter Cronkite in the dramaNewsflash. He also co-stars inJames Franco’sZeroville, but I’m fairly convinced that movie is never coming out.
