Owen Wilson just finished voicing an animal for Wes Anderson’s upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox. To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure what kind of animal Coach Skip is from the trailer. He’s certainly an albino something. Anyway, Wilson is returning to the voice-over well, this time as the comic strip Great Dane star, Marmaduke.

“The Hollywood Reporter” mentions that Wilson was the final piece in the live-action/CGI blend Marmaduke casting puzzle. Already signed on to play human characters are Judy Greer, Lee Pace and William H. Macy. Speaking of Bill Macy, why isn’t he in better films? He’s in this and he was just in Robert Rodriguez’s Shorts fighting a booger monster. If Paul Thomas Anderson is going to be the only one to hand him good roles anymore, PTA needs to get cracking on something new. Diatribe over. In addition to Wilson, Fergie, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Steve Coogan, Damon Wayans and Marlon Wayans will provide voices for CG characters. Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon) is directing from a script by Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio (License to Wed).

These films certainly aren’t looking to corral me or my demographic as an audience member, but for what it’s worth, this project means nothing to me. It’s basically Garfield with a dog, as far as I can tell, and in his Zombieland cameo, Bill Murray said Garfield was the biggest regret of his career. I’m sure it will make all involved sufficiently rich, but it doesn’t seem necessary to me. However, I do think it’s a better option than Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

The renowned English children’s author, Roald Dahl, has had the majority of his novels and stories adapted from page to screen, resulting in Nicolas Roeg’s The Withes, Henry Selick’s James and the Giant Peach and Danny DeVito’s Matilda, as well as Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the alternatively titled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart in 1971.

Dahl’s works have this distinctive air of offbeat whimsy and substance that haven’t quite been matched on screen by a filmmaker with the same posture and lifework characteristics as Wes Anderson – although Tim Burton would certainly qualify, as well, his film was a remake of Mel Stuart’s 1971 classic. With The Fantastic Mr. Fox, cult flag-bearer and Criterion wonder-boy Wes Anderson has adapted the story of a thievish family fox, his many talented friends, and his neighboring farmers who disapprove of their survival techniques, which involve stealing chickens from their farms.

Anderson made it big in 1996 and 1998, with arguably his best works, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, where the director established his style of dark, dry humor mixed in with genuine emotion and sensationalized, yet relatable characters – often played by Wes Anderson mainstays Owen and Luke Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. This culminated with The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, which brought all of the director’s fashionable and identifiable idiosyncrasies into a comparatively big-budgeted, all-star production that put all other dysfunctional families to shame with its bleak, yet once again, relatable family portrait. Now, he brings his old family (Schwartzman, Wilson, Murray lend their voices) in with the new (George Clooney as Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox) and ventures into the realm of stop-motion animation for the first time in his career.

Director Wes Anderson with the cast of "The Fantastic Mr. Fox."

Anderson signed on as director after the film rights were bought for Roald Dahl’s novel in 2004, but two years later, Henry Selick (the animation director at the time) had to leave the project to focus on his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline” – released earlier this year. Like any live-action Anderson film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox will not appear as traditional stop-motion animation, but since the majority of shooting was done in this tradition, it is classified as such. Voicework, hardly within the confines and comforts of a cozy studio, was recorded pretty much anywhere, according to Anderson. “Well, for this film we recorded all the voices on locations. We went out in a forest, we went in an attic, we went in a stable. We went underground for some things. There was a great spontaneity in the recordings because of that, I think.”**

The script, which was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding) looks to have all of the deadpan witty bantering that Anderson fans have come to expect and marks the first time the two writer/directors have collaborated since 2004’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The PG-animated film premiered at the London Film Festival on October 14th to warm reactions and begins its platform release on November 13th with a New York, Los Angeles debut.

**quote from RT article

When I first went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City last fall, I was amazed by what was featured there. My favorite aspects were dinosaur fossils, the Egyptian collection, the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Cape York meteorite, the largest meteorite to be shown at a museum. It was the best museum I’ve ever attended.  You could stay there hours upon hours continuing to find something new, because the facility is so massive.  When I was told Night at the Museum was filmed there, I had some interest in seeing it. Of course, only the exterior shots were filmed at the actual museum, the interior scenes were done in Vancouver (sorry to spoil it for some people). I ended up straying away from seeing it because it didn’t look very good. Just a regular family comedy. I still haven’t seen it because it’s received more negative criticism than positive.  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian doesn’t look very good either. Just more of the same.

Napoleon and Ivan the Terrible do their best Spiderman pose. Not a very good one, of course.

Ben Stiller reprises his role as Larry Daley, a security guard who experienced strange things during his night details at the Natural History Museum.  During his shifts, he would see such things as mannequins of historic figures and fossils of dinosaurs coming to life.  These sorts of things happen again, but at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.  It will be the first major feature to film there, even though some shots will be filmed in Vancouver once again. With the Natural History Museum being closed for refitting, the displays are moved to the Smithsonian. When two of the mannequins, Octavius (first emperor of Rome, Steve Coogan) and Jedediah Smith (famous American explorer, Owen Wilson), are shipped there by mistake, Larry must sneak in as a security guard to rescue them.  This doesn’t prove easy when more of the historic pieces come to life.

"What in the world?" "Albert Einstein. Don't you stick your tongue at me."

This movie will feature a ton of guest stars and cameos that will play the historic figures. Some notable ones are Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), Kuh Mun Rah (Hank Azaria), Albert Einstein (Eugene Levy) and General Custer (Bill Hader).  Jonah Hill plays a security guard and Dick Van Dyke returns as Cecil Fredericks. Shawn Levy, who directed the first Night at the Museum, remains for this one.  Original writers Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant (Reno 911! fame), who adapted the first film from the 1993 children’s book of the same name by Milan Trenc, supply the script here, as well. Lennon and Garant will also appear in the movie as the Wright Brothers.

This should be appealing to families, just as the first one did, despite the already dried formula.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian opens May 22^nd.

Word has come across the casting couch that a triumvirate of stars are looking to take part in the latest James L. Brooks romantic comedy which hopes to begin shooting this summer.  Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd are attempting to join Reese Witherspoon in the aforementioned untitled project.  From Variety comes:

Brooks, who is directing and producing, wrote the screenplay, which involves a love triangle. Rudd would play a white-collar executive vying for Witherspoon’s affections, while Wilson would portray a professional baseball pitcher who is also a love interest.

As is customary with Brooks’ projects, logline is being kept vague for the film, which has the working title “How Do You Know?”

Rudd is fast becoming a hot name after his turn in Role Models last year has raised his stock considerably.  His dead pan is becoming one of comedy’s hottest commodities.  Pairing him with a known quantity in Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) and the rebounding from the brink Wilson (Marley & Me) would only further raise his stock quotient and could place him in the same arena of talent like Wilson and his frequent collaborator, Vince Vaughn.  While rom-coms certainly aren’y my thing, the casting of Rudd in my mind has some potential.  What do you think, a pic to see or wait and see what happens?