Looks like it's two thumbs up for Josh Gad as Roger Ebert. Rumored for the role a few months ago, Gad is now set to play the legendary film critic in Russ & Roger Go Beyond. He joins Will Ferrell who was previously cast as B-movie director Russ Meyer.
The biographical comedy will be directed by Michael Winterbottom and penned by Chris Cluess, centering on Ebert and Meyer's collaboration on 1970 camp classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Meyer was an underground filmmaker known for low-budget pulp films featuring buxom women, like Faster, Pussycat!, Kill! Kill! before he was given a shot by 20th Century Fox to direct a studio feature. So he teamed up with Ebert, who at the time was a fledgling film critic and one of the few who liked Meyer's work. The film would go on to be one of the first X-rated movies released by a major studio, and would go on to be a box office success and a cult classic.
Think critics are tough now? They'll be extra critical on the depiction of a man they've looked up to as an idol. Gad, who was last seen in the video game comedy, Pixels, recently wrapped a role in Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast. [THR]
