The unexpectedly A-List remake of “Fright Night” (okay, maybe B+) continues to add colorful names. Anton Yelchin is already locked in as the gawky lead, with Colin Farrell as the evil vampire-next-door and Toni Collette as Yelchin’s put-upon mother. Adding to that bizarre group of names is “Doctor Who” star David Tennant and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Tennant would play Peter Vincent, a hot-shot magician who uses themes from horror movies to frame his tricks. In the original, Vincent, played by Roddy McDowell, was a late night horror show host, but the internet pretty much killed that staple of the 80s. There was speculation the Vincent role would be either a has-been genre star or perhaps a horror blogger, with some speculating it would be Chris Sarandon, playing “Chris Sarandon,” a faded star of eighties’ vampire movie “Fright Night.” Because there’s nothing more relevant than magicians.
Mintz-Plasse, who’s gotten quite a bit of career mileage for being a one-joke character in “Superbad,” plays Evil Ed, the dorkier-than-dorky best friend who becomes upset Yelchin is abandoning the nerd world in favor of a real life. Stephen Geoffreys essayed the role in the original before becoming a massively-successful gay porn star, giving the original film an unusual bit of infamy. We’re going to guess Mintz-Plasse skips this particular career path.
Disney is eying a 2011 release, with production soon to start lensing under director Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”).
