Well, Fred Claus may have had a horrendous opening weekend in the States (although it might prove to have long legs), but the experience clearly hasn’t put Vince Vaughn off Christmas comedies.
The lanky, languid, leading man has signed on to produce and star with Reese Witherspoon (who will also assume producing duties) in Four Christmases, a comedy about a couple who spend a torturous Christmas Day trying to see all four of their divorced parents.
Neat concept – just as Vaughn’s The Break-Up was a antidote to conventional rom-coms, Four Christmases has the potential for some realistic pain and emotion amidst the laughs.
It also has Robert Duvall, which augurs well for any project. He signed on today, presumably as Vaughn’s father or Witherspoon’s father-in-law. Or maybe he’s Witherspoon’s father, and Vaughn’s father-in-law.
Seth Gordon, director of the acclaimed gaming documentary King Of Kong, will call the shots on his first fiction feature. Filming starts in December, with New Line and Spyglass Entertainment presumably aiming for a release around next Christmas.