Perhaps because of its potentially troubling title, the new Tina Fey comedy drama formerly known The Taliban Shuffle is currently without a name. There’s at least some good news on the casting front, though, as Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton and Sheila Vand are now aboard.
The story has been adapted from Kim Barker’s wartime memoir, subtitled 'Strange Days In Afghanistan And Pakistan'. It charts her time as a journalist in Kabul in 2002, where with no foreign languages among her skillset and precious little idea how to get between Pakistan and Afghanistan, she was thrown in at the deep end. Slowly but surely, she grew to love the region, even as she became increasingly worried about its future.
Fey is playing Barker, with Margot Robbie as Tanya, a competitive on-air news anchor who becomes friends with her, yet turns out to be ruthless in finding a story that will make her career, and Martin Freeman as a dedicated Scottish photojournalist who strikes up a relationship with Barker. Vand is set as Shakira El-Khoury, a Lebanese reporter who works in the field alongside the women, but Molina and Thornton’s roles aren’t mentioned in Deadline’s report. At the very least, we’re hoping Thornton gets to threaten Freeman for a Fargo reunion.
John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are on board to direct, working from a script Fey’s old 30 Rock collaborator Robert Carlock. The cameras are rolling now in New Mexico.