Tom Shadyac On Shortlist For ‘Mr. Limpet’ With Zach Galifianakis; Sets Up Sam Kinison Biopic At HBO

Guess The Whole Giving-Away-All-Your-Money-And-Living-In-A-Trailer Thing Didn’t Quite Stick

So we thought Tom Shadyac was done with Hollywood? The director of “The Nutty Professor,” “Liar Liar” and “Bruce Almighty” is just coming out of an odd few years following his last film, “Evan Almighty.” The director has sold a 17,000-square-foot mansion in Pasadena, given away most of his money and possessions, now lives in a trailer park by choice and is currently hawking a new documentary called “I Am.” The documentary finds Shadyac talking to folks like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky trying to figure out why mankind is more often than not competitive rather than empathetic.

But before you think Shadyac has gone all hippie dippie on us, he still has one foot in Hollywood. Sort of. Even though he doesn’t own a cellphone, cycles everywhere whenever possible, and encourages his agent and business manager to “paddle-board in the ocean with him” before talking business, he still has a couple of projects on this plate. Again, in his own unique way.

The LA Times reports that Shadyac is on a shortlist to direct a remake of Arthur Lubin‘s 1964 film “The Incredible Mr. Limpet” that currently has Zach Galifianakis attached to star. But don’t think that Shadyac is ready to get right back into faceless comedy. He does want to portray a positive message and he “envisions the film as an environmentally conscious comedy” and has gone so far as running his ideas by the filmmakers of “The Cove” to make sure they are environmentally sound. Are you skeptical about this? So is Shadyac, as he tells the paper, “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he says. “The studio may have someone else whose take they like more.”

Meanwhile, Variety reports that Shadyac has brought his long-gestating Sam Kinison biopic from Universal to HBO. The project has been knocking around for years, but the director, long linked to the picture, has now struck a deal with HBO to bring the project to life with the helmer taking an executive producing role. Based on the book “Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison” by Bill Kinison and Steve Delson, the film will have a script from Rich Wilkes, the genuis behind the “xXx” films and “The Jerky Boys.” No word yet if the project will turn Kinison from a drug fueled foul mouthed comedian into a tree hugger, but we presume that with Shadyac not putting his name under the Directed By credit, he won’t do anything too drastic.