Ben Stiller is Here to 'Spread Goodness'

While I certainly didn't love Permanent Midnight and Your Friends and Neighbors, they showed that Ben Stiller could actually convey some dramatic depth. It's been a long time since he's effectively drawn that out, but it looks like we'll see it sooner than later.

Variety reports that Stiller will direct Help Me Spread Goodness for Participant Films, which is described as being dramatic "with comic overtones." Though there's no mention of who will star, it sounds like it could be a good vehicle for Stiller on that front, as well: A Chicago banker is duped by one of those Nigerian e-mail scams, and from there, the film takes aim at some serious socio-economic problems in that country and others in Africa. Sounds heady, but that's kind of where Stiller is focusing himself behind the camera these days; he's also linked to the extremely ambitious The Trial of the Chicago 7, which was a Spielberg project.

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Ben Stiller on the Trail of 'Chicago 7'

Maybe they all saw something in the way he handled the tense, touchy situations in Tropic Thunder and thought, "Get me that Ben Stiller!" Whatever the logic, the rumor going 'round is that Stiller will make a jump to drama and take over the project that Steven Spielberg and Paul Greengrass couldn't or wouldn't: The Trial of the Chicago Seven.  The Hollywood Reporter lists Stiller as "the latest well-known director" to meet with DreamWorks on the project, and while nobody's getting married or anything, the film and the writer-actor-director are at least in the "go grab coffee" stage of the relationship. Stiller's a Venti Chai Tea Latte guy while DreamWorks prefers a soothing Caramel Macchiato.There have been so many names attached to this project in front of the camera - Will Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, and on and on - that DreamWorks would probably prefer to not have any setbacks and try to get this Aaron Sorkin-scripted film in front of cameras as soon as next year. I would think having a director on board, at the very least, would help keep the cast together, or if it's too late for that, would help DreamWorks assemble another one. But why Ben Stiller? Is he entering his "serious" phase? Hard to say, but it's worked for plenty of other comedians in the past. I will say that this feels like a reach because the studio is desperate to move forward. However, Stiller did show an ability to guide a very expensive location shoot to box office success with Tropic Thunder, so you could also ask where his career is concerned, "If not now, when?"

Paul Greengrass Not Directing 'Chicago 7'

It seems it was too good to be true. Last week, we were very excited about the prospect of Paul Greengrass directing The Trial of the Chicago 7, taking over the political drama for Steven Spielberg, who is still producing the film. Devin Faraci at CHUD sees eye-to-eye with me on this subject: "If you had to name a director perfectly suited to this material, it would be Paul," Faraci proclaims at CHUD. But he had the inside track. Faraci e-mailed Greengrass, who said he thought it was a "wonderful project," but because of the film's schedule and his own, it simply wasn't going to work. (Word has it Greengrass is playing a Nazi hunter in Inglorious Bastards instead. OK, not really. But how unsurprising would it really be at this point?) Greengrass does high politics and high drama as well as any director out there, and despite being British, his very American trio of The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum and United 93 is about the best trio of mainstream films of their kind in a long time. He's currently working on another film in a similar vein, The Green Zone, which will star his Jason Bourne, Matt Damon.Perhaps the flurry of heavy dramas thick with politics has something to do with him passing on Chicago 7, although Cinematical questions whether or not the fourth Bourne movie might not have Greengrass' eye instead. It's hard to believe, though, that Spielberg's Chicago 7 is a film you don't hurry into production. In fact, it probably should have come out this year, if there had been enough foresight. After all, 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of the notorious Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which sparked the riots and protests that led to the events to be depicted in the film. Certainly, it makes more sense to release this film on the eve of the most important election since 1968 rather than next year, or possibly all the way out to 2011.Still, with a cast rumored at various times this year to include Will Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin Spacey, and others, this isn't a project that can sit on the shelf very long. Soon enough, the cast will find other things to do, too. And then where will we be? Perhaps Spielberg should have made this in front of Indiana Jones. Where does it go now? And with whom?

Spielberg Out of 'Chicago 7'...Is 'Bourne' Director Greengrass In?

Great research by Neil Miller at Film School Rejects has uncovered some major news. Steven Spielberg is apparently taking himself out of the director's chair for The Trial of the Chicago 7, and in his place may just be Paul Greengrass. The news was hidden away in Production Weekly, which Rejects just happened to check for an update and found something a bit more noteworthy. Less than two weeks earlier, producer Walter Parkes had kind of relayed to MovieWeb that Chicago 7 may be in a bit of a holding pattern until a director surfaced. So does the Greengrass news change things? If it holds us, yeah, I'd say it does. The film will follow the infamous protestors during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. I won't rehash that whole story here; if you're unfamiliar with it, get a history book. Or two, maybe. Anyway, it seemed like a good subject for Spielberg, who has become one of the better social commentators behind the camera, particularly for a film that could have this high a profile. Then again, I can't think of a director who has been as good back-to-back-to-back lately than Greengrass, who bookended his superb United 93 with two Bourne movies, and his past two films are easily among the best of their respective years. The cast is almost embarrassingly good, which would explain why you'd want to keep the project going; there's no telling when you could assemble Will Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin Spacey, and Philip Seymour Hoffman again (and the cast will also include Adam Arkin, Colin Hanks, and Taye Diggs, although they're probably a bit more flexible). Does Greengrass make sense here? Perfect sense. Look at the approximation of cinéma vérité he used for United 93. That naturalistic feel is more than appropriate for a film of this nature, and again, he's clearly at the peak of his powers right now. Let's hope that Production News listing wasn't a typo, or that even if it was, Spielberg catches wind of the idea and hires Greengrass on the spot.