Two weeks of news involving Paul Greengrass, Star Wars, Batman, and Ghostbusters? We’re starting to see a predictable trend. Fortunately, we have seven other big stories that rattled our news feeds over the past few days. One involves Bond 24, while another deals with a popular furball who finally found her voice. It wasn’t a wild week, per se, but crazy enough to write about.
First off…
Who knew Audrey Griswold would grow up to be Leslie Mann?
[Source: Variety]
Leslie Mann is joining the cast of New Line’s “Vacation” sequel opposite Ed Helms and Christina Applegate. Shooting is set to start next week in Louisiana with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein making their directorial debut from their script. Helms is starring as Rusty Griswold, the grown-up son of Clark Griswold (portrayed by Chevy Chase in the 1983 film), who takes a family trip similar to the one he took as a boy.
Solid casting and an agreeable reboot. Why? The Vacation series was always an enjoyable outlet for humorous commentary on the age-old American nuclear family, and it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with for the 21st century. It’s a shame they couldn’t get ballsy and recast Anthony Michael Hall as Rusty, but hey, they still nabbed Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo for a minor supporting role to keep this somewhat canon. Speaking of which, how many of you think they’ll gloss over the 2003 sequel, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2? Or how about any of those ads for HomeAway and Old Navy? Don’t laugh, the latter starred most of the principal cast! Here’s hoping Lindsey Buckingham makes a sonic return, too. –Michael Roffman