If you associate the phrase end of the world with Keira Knightley struggling to corset her privately educated home-counties accent into something appropriate to queen of all the pirates in the world, worry not, for Seeking A Friend At The End of the World is a forthcoming Indie film from Lorene Scafaria, writer of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist who will be making her big-screen directorial debut. The 'rom-com' movie follows an unlikely romance between a guy (Steve Carell) and a younger female neighbor as they set out to find the former's high school sweetheart on the eve of an apocalypse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Knightley is in negotiations to play the female neighbor. Knightley/Carell falling for each other? I guess anything can happen at the end of the world! Deadline describe the plot;
The film takes place at a time when mankind is forced to absorb the fact that an incoming asteroid will end humanity. Carell plays a man suddenly alone when his wife leaves in a panic. His high school sweetheart writes him saying she wants to be with him when the world stops. His neighbor (Knightley) accompanies him on the road trip as love blooms at the worst possible time. Despite the doomsday climax, the film has a somewhat comic and romantic tone.
The movie could film as early as next month as Carell, star of NBCs American The Office facsimile which after- seemingly- thousands of increasingly pointless episodes, is finally limping to a conclusion for his character Michael Scott. This looks like it could be his first post-The Office project, despite the multitude of deals he has made recently. Seeking A Friend At The End of the World is a Mandate Pictures and Indian Paintbrush (who just made Jason Reitman's new movie) project, but currently has no distributor, though we imagine with Carell/Knightley's commitment, this is just a formality.
Writer/director Scafaria, meanwhile, is a member of the hilariously-and ironically- titled Fempire which consists of Diablo Cody (Juno), Dana Fox (The Wedding Date) and Liz Meriwhether (No Strings Attached), and whose stewardship of the project means a massive upsurge in female written/directed films emanating from Hollywood in 2011. An Ambitious first time project for a director but with a romance movie that contains a mixture of lust, melancholy and humanity - this could be a project to keep an eye on.
If you associate the phrase end of the world with Keira Knightley struggling to corset her privately educated home-counties accent into something appropriate to queen of all the pirates in the world, worry not, for Seeking A Friend At The End of the World is a forthcoming Indie film from Lorene Scafaria, writer of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist who will be making her big-screen directorial debut. The 'rom-com' movie follows an unlikely romance between a guy (Steve Carell) and a younger female neighbor as they set out to find the former's high school sweetheart on the eve of an apocalypse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Knightley is in negotiations to play the female neighbor. Knightley/Carell falling for each other? I guess anything can happen at the end of the world! Deadline describe the plot; 