New Bogdanovich Comedy SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY

As a huge fan of writer-director Peter Bogdanovich, I'm thrilled at the news that his long gestating project SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY (formerly titled SQUIRREL TO THE NUTS) seems finally to be coming together with a great team behind it. The film is being produced by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, and it will star Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Wilde, Brie Larson, Jason Schwartzman, Eugene Levy, Kathryn Hahn, and Cybil Shepherd.

Everything about this makes me happy. Bogdanovich has being doing grunt work in the industry for a couple of decades now, so it's exciting to see him launching a production of an original script (co-written with his ex-wife Louise Stratten) for the first time in a very long while. He's got an impressive cast, and I'm particularly happy to hear that he'll be working with Owen Wilson, who frankly seems to have been born to star in a Bogdanovich movie.

Though he's probably best known today for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, as well as for his invaluable work as a movie historian (he did, for instance, the only interview with cult director Edgar G. Ulmer that has survived), he really was one of the great comedy directors from the 1970s. As a director, he's got a light touch and a gentle spirit, but never seems to be sappy or maudlin. Here's hoping that everything goes well with SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY. 

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