We’ve been eagerly awaiting the next film from Alexander Payne. The writer/director grabbed an Oscar in 2004 for Sideways, a film that had four additional nods that year, but has done little since. His next feature The Descendants, starring George Clooney, is nearly complete and it looks like we won’t have another long gap between projects.
The Playlist reports that he has decided on his project. It will be Nebraska, written by Robert Nelson. The Paramount project centers “on a father and son dynamic about an aging alcoholic father who thinks he’s won a million dollar Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes prize. He is unbowed when his family tries to dissuade him from making the long trip from Montana to Nebraska to cash in his winnings. So his estranged 20-something son—who doesn’t believe the ticket is a winner—is forced to go along with him for the ride to keep him out of trouble, providing an opportunity to bond with his father after years of separation.”
Originally coming across the script in 2004, when he was too busy to direct, Payne is now ready and will do rewrites with Phil Johnston, who wrote the Payne-produced Cedar Rapids (which is seeing a Sundance premiere). While no deals are in place and casting has yet to begin, there are rumors of Casey Affleck as the son and Robert Forster as the father. It certainly makes me happy Payne is back into the film-making grind and we will report updates as they come.
Nebraska will shoot late summer or early fall, while The Descendants will likely make the festival fall circuit before a late 2011 release.
Are you happy to see Payne return to consistent filmmaking? What do you think of this project?