Garry Marshall’s first all-star ensemble romantic comedy drama, Valentine’s Day, might have resulted in several Razzie nominations this week, but the film scored in one much more important way: it made money. So Marshall has been building the cast for the follow-up set around New Year’s Eve. And now he’s roped in Saturday Night Live head writer/performer Seth Meyers, rocker and occasional actor Jon Bon Jovi and Inglourious Basterds’ Til Schweiger to join the already sprawling ensemble.
Like its predecessor, the New Year’s Eve film will be built around a series of intertwining plots, this time focused on New Yorkers as they look for love, sort problems, fight, make up, and, in one case, compete to give birth to the first baby of the New Year.
Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Abigail Breslin, Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Sofia Vergara and a young newcomer named Robert De Niro are already in the cast, all attracted by the idea that they can nip in, shoot their segments over a few days and be out again for other work before too long.
Meyers is playing Biel’s wife and they’re a financially challenged couple caught up in the race to birth the year’s first child, with a $25,000 reward on the line. Jovi, meanwhile, will play Berry’s former flame who finds himself facing her again at a party. He’s playing a rock star, which should be really, really difficult for him. Glad to see he's stretching those acting muscles. There’s no word on Schweiger’s role.
Marshall’s already hard at work, and the film will be upon us on December 9.