Jack Black Kills Shirley MacLaine for Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater was able to do what no one else has: Mine the sort of performance out of Jack Black that requires no forgiveness for the fact that he's Jack Black. When Black tries to step outside himself, it almost always fails. When directors let him do too much of his own thing, he takes it too far. The only other movie I can think of that comes close in that regard is Orange County. Linklater tapped into the right stuff for School of Rock, and he thinks he can do it again. The Hollywood Reporter says Black has been cast opposite Shirley MacLaine in Linklater's dark comedy called Bernie, which begins shooting in October. I would suggest a name change, because the synopsis runs a little too close to the only other popular film with "Bernie" in the title. However, that's just a real-life coincidence; Linklater's film is based on a true story.

"Bernie is set in the small town of Carthage, Texas and follows a Renaissance man-community leader-mortician Bernie (Black) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a wealthy but very particular widow (MacLaine). When he kills her, he goes to great lengths to maintain the illusion that she is still alive."

Those lengths included keeping her in a freezer for the better part of a year. And, obviously, pretending the dead are still living is the basis for Weekend at Bernie's, which actually pre-dates the real crime by several years. Outside of the title, though, it sounds like a good project, and maybe Linklater can do more with Jack Black than he's been able to convincingly show to this point.