Office actor Steve Carell to star in golf comedy
Call it "The 40-Year-Old Duffer."
Actor Steve Carell of The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin has decided to star in Missing Links, a golf comedy based on Rick Reilly's 1997 novel, according to the Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business blog.
Carell will produce via his Carousel Prods banner, while the company’s Vance DeGeneres and Charlie Hartsock are on board as exec producers. Bobby Cohen (”Revolutionary Road”) is also producing. “The Break-Up” scribe Jay Lavender is writing the screenplay. Greg Silverman will oversee for Warners.
Reilly’s 1997 comedic novel tells of the group of bumblers who, after playing for years at a run-down municipal golf course in a working-class Boston neighborhood, concoct a series of schemes that they hope will lead to them teeing off at a nearby elite club.
I read Reilly's novel a few years ago and Carell fans shouldn't expect a slapstick Happy Gilmore-like comedy. Missing Links is a warm portrayal of a ramshackle muni and its wacky regulars with lots of opportunities for laughs, but the heart of the book is an estranged father-son relationship. In Hollywood terms, think Caddyshack meets Field of Dreams, or "Noonan, I am your father."
Hey, it's gotta be better than The Legend of Bagger Vance, right?
Posted by: will walpole | Oct 30, 2009 12:26:44 PM
I hated Rick Reilly before I read "missing links". Having grown up playing Ponkapoag (the real golf course that the books are based on). My opinion of Reiley changed for the better... Untill now. Why Rick? Why wreck yet another good book by making a damm movie, on top of that a golf movie? With Steve Carell? really? Steve Carrel does a fine job with his tv show... But I dont see Carrel as being capable of playing this role.. no way.. this just screams CASH GRAB... I hope Carrel can play.... Shame on you Rick!
Posted by: Adam | Oct 29, 2009 12:10:31 PM
Are you kidding me. Bagger was a great movie. My Son watches it all the time. Walker probably liked the Love Boat as a kid....
Posted by: Bruce Bremer | Oct 28, 2009 3:14:43 PM
Missing Links is a great book-if the movie is nearly as good it will be a hit.
Posted by: Bruce Bremer | Oct 28, 2009 3:13:30 PM
Missing Links is a great book-if the movie is anywhere near as good as the book it will be a hit.
Posted by: Chris MOuw | Oct 28, 2009 12:14:59 PM
I heard carell took this role away fromSean Penn.
Posted by: westy | Oct 28, 2009 12:07:10 PM
Yes... 'Bagger Vance' was a bad movie. I've never read the book but the movie didn't do enough for me to find out more about it.
Posted by: Rex | Oct 28, 2009 10:22:51 AM
You think 'Bagger Vance' was a bad movie? Try reading or listening to the book.
Posted by: palmstring | Oct 27, 2009 6:54:51 PM
This should be an interesting comedy film to watch since "Tin Cup." I've better keep a big eye on Carell. Good luck to him!
Posted by: gary van sickle | Oct 27, 2009 5:54:12 PM
should be funny. then again, my pal reilly also wrote "Leatherheads" with George Clooney and I still haven't been able to sit through it in its entirety. Ugh.
Posted by: dpd901 | Oct 27, 2009 4:32:47 PM
I have read Missing Links and it's sequel "shanks for nothing" Both are great books. I am wondering if Carrel can pull off the character credibly... A +2 handicap who is a pretty straight/intense kind of character. The goofballs in the group are the ones around him. Should be interesting.
Posted by: Steve Hansen | Oct 27, 2009 2:09:34 PM
If anyone could pull off a golf comedy, it's him.