In the last couple of days, The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past – the Matthew McConaughey-starrer which revamps Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, putting a rom-com spin on it of which we know the author would approve – has assembled a rather nifty cast.
Jennifer Garner (ironically, signing on for a film that began life as a vehicle for her real-life husband, Ben Affleck), Breckin Meyer (who we still have a soft spot for, despite those Garfield movies), Lacey Chabert, Emma Stone and Anne Archer have all signed on to the Mark Waters-directed pic, which starts filming in Boston on February 19.
But we’re most excited by the latest casting news, revealed to our good chums at Comingsoon.net by Waters himself: Michael Douglas has signed on to play the Jacob Marley figure.
For those of you who have either not read the Dickens original, or managed to miss the previous 283 big-screen versions of A Christmas Carol, Marley is the late business partner of Ebeneezer Scrooge, and returns as a ghost to warn Scrooge of the coming of three ghosts on Christmas Eve.
Of course, The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past rejigs the story somewhat – now McConaughey’s Connor is a womaniser attending the wedding of his brother (Meyer). There, he’s haunted by several old flames, including Garner, whom we bet he’ll realise is The One after all.
Now, we’re guessing that Garner won’t actually be dead, as that will a) be pretty gruesome for a rom-com and b) make it difficult for even McConaughey to consummate any relationship. But there will be a supernatural element to the film, part of which will be provided by Douglas, as Connor’s Uncle Wayne. According to Waters, Wayne is, “a '70s playboy, who was his mentor and he wears Bob Evans shades and guides him around the ghost world."
Sounds great – the idea of Douglas, given his notorious past, playing a sex-hound, is irresistible. And, if Waters is on his game, he’ll give Douglas and Anne Archer at least one scene together, rekindling memories of their Fatal Attaction days.
For more from Waters on the movie, specifically the appeal of McConaughey, click here and tell ‘em Empire sent ya.