I believe it was only three or four posts ago that I said Josh Gad was the pop culture equivalent of that kid your mom forces you to play with. Almost immediately after I hit publish, Josh Gad booked another role, because 2015 is The Year Of Josh Gad. According to the reports, Gad is set to play Roger Ebert opposite Will Ferrell as Russ Meyers, in Russ & Roger Go Beyond, about the making of Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, for which a 27-year-old Ebert famously wrote the script.
Gad has not inked a deal and hasn’t even read the script yet, an individual familiar with the project told TheWrap, but he is the producers’ top choice to play Ebert and the chance to work with Ferrell is an enticing opportunity for any rising comic actor.
While the film’s director hasn’t been revealed, Emmy winner Christopher Cluess (“Saturday Night Live”) wrote the script, which chronicles the unique relationship between budding film critic Ebert and soft-core filmmaker Russ Meyer, who teamed up to make the cult classic “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” in 1970. [TheWrap]
At first I read that name as “Christopher Clueless,” which sounds like a perfect Josh Gad character.
Meanwhile, Gad has The Wedding Ringer, his uncredited Hitch sequel starring Kevin Hart, opening next week. Now, I get why Kevin Hart is in every movie. Kevin Hart sells out arenas. How did Josh Gad get to be in every movie? Did everyone in Hollywood see Book of Mormon on the same day? Because the main thing I’ve learned about Josh Gad is that you can’t make fun of Josh Gad without someone piping up, “Yeah, but he was great in Book of Mormon.”
I never managed to score tickets to that, so I guess I’ll have to take all your words for it. Don’t think I won’t be secretly spiteful about it.
There was an earlier idea to cast Jonah Hill as Ebert, Permut told me a few months back, but that didn’t pan out. [HollywoodElsewhere]
Ah, suddenly it all makes sense.