Acting quickly to secure his second directorial effort after Bad Words (which has yet to win a UK release), Jason Bateman jumped at the chance to make long-gestating drama The Family Fang. With shooting set for July, he’s adding Christopher Walken to the cast{
The Family Fang, which has been floating around since Nicole Kidman nabbed the rights back in 2012, finds David Lindsay-Abaire adapting Kevin Wilson’s novel. Kidman will star as one of a family of grown children who have long resented their performance artist parents for dragooning them into their bizarre world when they were younger. Now, with the parents (including Walken as their dad) suddenly vanished, the family is drawn back together to take part in one big, final event.
Bateman is co-starring with Kidman as well as directing, and the film will be one of many whose rights are on sale at Cannes this year.
Acting-wise, Bateman has Shawn Levy’s This Is Where I Leave You in the can and will crop up in Horrible Bosses 2, which lands in the UK on November 28. Walken, meanwhile, is part of the** Jersey Boys** ensemble, with Clint Eastwood’s latest due out on June 20.