Jay and Mark Duplass (that’s Mark over at the left there) are collectively known as the Duplass brothers, responsible for helping nurture the mumblecore movement before branching out a little further with the likes of Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives At Home. But while they’ve occasionally taken uncredited script-fixing jobs on other projects, they haven’t leapt on any studio jobs. That looks set to change as Universal is in the process of hiring them to write – and likely direct–a remake of 1978’s Same Time, Next Year.
The original, directed by Robert Mulligan, saw Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn as an accountant and a housewife who meet quite by accident at a romantic inn. Though they’re both married, they have a one-night stand, which eventually sparks a regular annual meet-up. As the years go by, their relationship deepens further.
Scott Rudin and Walter Mirisch are the producers for the remake, and while it’s a little surprising to see the Duplass brothers agreeing to sign on for someone else’s project, it does sound like a subject they'd be well suited to tackle.
The pair have a few other projects bubbling away, including fraternal sports comedy The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, which has been finished for a while and hits US screens next month. There are several scripts they hope to direct, including Pitchfork, Table 19, Mule and The Dubber. Their writing / directing careers depend on finding financing and Mark’s busy acting career. He’ll be seen in **People Like Us **and has a role in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. But before all of that, Your Sister’s Sister sees him co-starring with Rosemarie DeWitt and Emily Blunt, and is out on June 29.