Worried by the distinct lack of J.K. Simmons in the casting for Jason Reitman‘s upcoming Diablo Cody-scribed feature “Young Adult“? Well, fear not, as it looks like a reunion is back on the cards with Simmons set to provide his vocal talents for narration in the film.
“Not unlike ‘True Grit‘ with the Coen Brothers, you will not see me in ‘Young Adult,’ but you will hear me,” Simmons revealed to ComingSoon. “They asked me to do the voice-over when they were in post-production and then Jason asked me to do the voice-over in ‘Young Adult,’ because at this point, I’m his good luck charm. I’ve been in every feature he’s directed.”
To be honest, Simmons’ involvement with “True Grit” flew right by us (he voices Lawyer Dagget in the film) but his re-teaming with Reitman continues their successful run which has seen the actor in a variety of roles including the Academy boss B.R. in “Thank You For Smoking,” the father of the titular character in “Juno” and a disgruntled ex-employee named Bob in “Up In The Air.” He also had a small part in the Reitman-produced, Cody-scribed and Karyn Kusama directed “Jennifer’s Body” as Mr. Wroblewski making it a reunion between Simmons and Cody as well.
“Young Adult” stars Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt and follows the story of a divorced 30-something young-adult fiction writer (Theron) who returns to her Minnesota home to chase after her now-married-with-kids ex-boyfriend (Wilson) with Oswalt playing a semi-crippled old high school acquaintance who befriends the narcissistic and misguided female. We previously reviewed the script and described it as Cody’s “most mature effort to date, largely dispensing with the annoying slang she’s been tagged with [and] more complex and emotionally layered than [the] ‘crazy-bitch-stalks-her-old-bf'” logline. It’s “a dark, and messed-up film that’s quite dramatic,” but “also sad and tragic, with a fairly desperate protagonist” that will “likely fall under a type of twisted dramedy category.”
To say we’re excited by “Young Adult” would be severely understating things; we even featured the film and Theron in our pie-in-the-sky 2012 Oscar predix for Best Picture and Actress but noted that the film may very well fly by the Oscar crowd due to the dark material. Let’s hope not.
Cannot wait to see this film. I was surprised by how excellent the script was because as much as I loved Juno, I didn\’t think Diablo Cody had it in her to write a feature script about adults in adult situations. And with Jason Reitman\’s directorial involvement, I have no doubt but that it will be great.
Pretty psyched for this one. Reitman hasn\’t made a bad film yet and the script for this was terrific.
He didn\’t narrate True Grit. He voiced Lawyer Daggett.