Jay Roach has had a weird career. (He also looks a bit like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, but that’s another story). Between directing horrific anti-comedies like Dinner for Schmucks and Meet the Fockers, he does acclaimed political retrospectives for HBO like Recount, about the 2000 election. In the same vein, Game Change is based on the 2008 book about the McCain/Palin ticket, starring Ed Harris† as John McCain and Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. You can check out the trailer below, and just in time. It felt like it was almost five minutes since I’d last heard that c*nt’s name.

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JustJared today has the first pictures of Emma Stone going blonde for her role as Gwen Stacy in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot starring Scarfield. Trivia: She’s actually a natural blonde.  But does the carpet match her pubes?  Stay tuned! [more pictures in the slideshow]

George Clooney directing film version of Enron: The Musical. Playwright Lucy Prebble will adapt from her own play.  Some of the British people from the play are pissed that none of them will be involved in the film version, and they’ll probably be even more pissed when this fails miserably.  Unless you work in the Glee kids singing “Don’t Stop Believin’”, no one’s seeing this. |Guardian|

Kathryn Bigelow and Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal are re-teaming. Boal and Bigelow are shopping an “international thriller” that would shoot before Bigelow’s Triple Frontier starts next Fall.  So far, all we know is that it’s based on a true story that appeared in print, and that “the narrative concerns black ops.”  Asked Brett Ratner, CAN THE BLACK OPS ALSO BE SASSY?? |Variety|

Neill Blomkamp reteaming with Sharlto Copley in the sci-fi/horror project Elysium, “an action-based film with sociopolitical themes.”  The concept is being shopped around town with every studio reportedly showing interest.   I’m all for sociopolitical themes, but unless they can be communicated through Sharlto Copley eating cat food and crying, I’m not interested. |ThePlaylist|

Jay Roach to direct a political comedy starring Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell, “about two candidates timed to 2012′s U.S. presidential election.  Remember that Roach has experience in this genre; he replaced Sydney Pollack as the director of HBO’s 2008 Emmy-winning dramedy Recount about the 2000 Bush vs Gore election.”  And he most recently directed Dinner for Schmucks and produced Little Fockers, so I guess the only thing missing is experience in comedy. |Deadline|

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Today we’ve got the new trailer for Dinner for Schmucks.  I’ll be honest: the concept (Paul Rudd has to bring a dork to dinner so his bosses can make fun of him) seems a little lame, but given the talent involved; Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Steve Carell,  Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords, Ron Livingston, Larry Wilmore from the Daily Show, and BRUCE F*CKING GREENWOOD; I’d watch them do anything, even kill my mother.  With the stacked roster, it’s almost like Valentine’s Day but for comedy, and not an Al-Qaeda recruitment video.

If the movie is half as good as these screencaps, I’m sold.

[High-res at Apple, hat tip: ScreenJunkies]

While Dinner for Schmucks might sound like a bad high-concept premise — guy has to find a schmuck so he can impress his boss at their annual make-fun-of-schmucks dinner — from a borderline director — Jay Roach of the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents movies — it also has one of the best casts ever assembled: Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, and our lord and savior Bruce Greenwood forever and ever a-men.  The question is, will the awesome cast outweigh the sort of lame premise which sports no less than five credited screenwriters?

The film is a remake of the french comedy film Le Diner de Cons. The movie co-stars Ron Livingston, Bruce Greenwood, Jemaine Clement, Stephanie Szostak, Jeff Dunham, Rick Overton, and Zach Galifianakis. [via /Film]

Yes, YES! Yes, huh? NO! maybe, yes.  Honestly, I just want to see the movie where Bruce Greenwood finishes washing that horse, is that so much to ask?

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(Playing maracas in marching band... braces... this. kid. rules.)

The internets are all abuzz today with the news of a fourth Austin Powers movie, something Mike Myers has been talking about writing for two or three years now. But before we all start deepthroating our shotguns, keep in mind that today’s news came from this MTV interview with Austin Powers 1-3 director Jay Roach:

“[Star Mike Myers is] working on ideas for it, people are definitely talking about it and I’m all good for it,” Roach said matter-of-factly. “I love those characters.”

“Mike gave me my first shot directing on ‘Austin Powers 1.’ Just said, ‘Hey, you should direct this movie,’ when I hadn’t directed much of anything. So I love that group of people, and what could be better than going back into that.”

That’s it. To recap, Mike Myers is writing Austin Powers 4 (which we already knew), and now the director says, hypothetically, he might be up for directing a movie that no one has any plans to make yet.  And keep in mind, here’s what the NY Times said about Myers’ last movie, which, based on its worldwide gross, lost $21 million.

A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

A little high brow for my tastes, but I think he liked it.