Actor-turned-director story numero uno of the day: Though Renee Zellweger has occasionally dipped her toes into the producing waters, she hasn’t shown much interest in directing. But apparently she was just keeping it quiet, as the actress has now signed on to star in and shoot 4 1/2 Minutes.
While lots of people get their first taste of megaphone wielding via shorts, that is actually the title of a new comedy and not the running time. Written by Warrior’s Anthony Tambakis, the plot will be based on the life of real-life stand-up comic Dov Davidoff (who worked on the story).
Johnny Knoxville will star as Jimmy Bennett, a commitment-shy comedian whose life is one big disaster area. That, presumably, changes when he takes a job looking after the genius child spawned by single mother PJ Anderson (Zellweger).
Assuming everything comes together, Zellweger will be calling action for the first time in New York next February.