If you know and love the script for “30 Minutes Or Less” like we do than you know this is pretty brilliant casting.
Fred Ward has joined the cast of the Ruben Fleischer-directed project and he’ll be playing a tough, asshole military dad.
Written by Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan — a hot screenwriting duo that had two screenplays in last years Blacklist, including one still unproduced called “Comic Con;” they also wrote “L.A.P.I.” — the picture stars Jessie Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swanson and Michael Peña.
The film centers on two white trash fledgling criminals (McBride and his lapdog lieutenant Swanson) who kidnap a slacker pizza delivery driver (Eisenberg) and force him — by ticking bomb — to rob a bank within 30 minutes. Ansari plays Chet, the history teacher best friend of Eisenberg’s character who has his shit together, but gets roped into the kidnapping (and note Aziz has been listed as the lead, but it’s really Eisenberg’s character who has the crux of the story in front of him). Peña plays a gangster character who becomes a significant problem in the second act of the screenplay.
In the script, McBride’s character has a verbally abusive and strict retired military father named “The Major,” and this is the brilliant casting choice of Ward (he’s been an excellent character actor for years, but shame on you if you don’t love, “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins”). There’s one major character left in the comedy and that would be Chet’s sister — who Eisenberg’s character is not-so-secretly in love with.
Any good brown suggestions? We mean that lovingly of course and to note that this shouldn’t just be any old Caucasian actresses (unless the script has been tweaked).
Fleischer — who had the breakout hit “Zombieland” last year — is directing the picture this July in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is a hot property on his own and has already found his next project in the Mike White-penned film, “Babe In The Woods,” and their sensibilities seem to be evenly matched (thank god, Fleischer didn’t go the “Mission Impossible IV” route; a project he had been offered).
