March of this year brought the news that Veep's Julia Louis-Dreyfus would be starring in a remake of Swedish comedy drama Force Majeure. The film has developed since then and now we know that not only is Will Ferrell co-starring, but The Way Way Back's Nat Faxon and Jim Rash will direct the film.
The original was written and directed by Ruben Östlund, and follows a family who are staying in a resort in the French Alps. They’re worried when an avalanche threatens to bury the place, and the father skedaddles like a coward and heads for safety. But when the avalanche passes with minimal impact and the family is reunited, huge, somewhat understandable cracks have appeared in their relationship, and things are unlikely to be the same again...
Jesse Armstrong has scripted the new take, now known as Downhill, and the cameras will roll in Austria next year. "Downhill is a tale of bad judgment and moral weakness, so how fitting that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell embody those values. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, of course, are more than qualified to capture the fallout," cracks producer Anthony Bregman, who will be one of the people overseeing the film for Fox Searchlight.
Ferrell will be back on our screens next month for his reunion with John C. Reilly, Holmes And Watson. The Sherlockian comedy
arrives on 26 December.
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