Ned Benson's ambitious directorial debut The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby has made him one of Hollywood's rising stars before the film has even hit theaters, and already he's gaining more work because of it. He's set to rewrite an adaptation of Michael Gates Gill's memoir, How Starbucks Saved My Life. In the works since 2006 when Tom Hanks optioned the rights before it was even published, the story tells of how Gill went from being a high-powered ad exec to working as a barista at Starbucks. While there he finds an unexpected mentor who helps reshape his outlook on life. Hanks had been planning to star with Gus Van Sant directing, but now that the project is set up at Weinstein it's basically starting over from scratch. Benson is taking over screenplay duties from Chocolat writer Robert Nelson Jacobs.
SNL and Funny or Die's Jake Szymanski is in talks to direct Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, a comedy based on the true story of Mike and Dave Stangle, whose attempts to find wedding dates through Craigslist went viral for some reason. Andrew Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, writers on the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy Neighbors, penned the screenplay which has the immature brothers' dates turning out to be even less refined than they are. Szymanski will first complete work on The Social Life (formerly He's Fu**ing Perfect) which stars Rebel Wilson and Amanda Seyfried. [THR]
