Will Ferrell's latest professional turn isn't a bad tactic—truth be told, it's a damn good strategery.
The funnyman's taking his Dubya to the Great White Way, announcing plans to make his Broadway debut in January with the one-man show You're Welcome, America. A Final Night With George W. Bush.
Sounds like someone's a graduate of the Stephen Colbert School of Naming Things.
Ferrell, who infamously honed his George W. Bush impression during his years on Saturday Night Live, will write the show with longtime collaborator Adam McKay, who directed and cowrote Step Brothers, Talladega Nights and Anchorman, and who will also take on helming duties for the live event, according to Variety.
Previews rather appropriately begin on Jan. 20, aka Inauguration Day, and the show will officially run between Feb. 1 and March 15.
In other big casting news:
- Brad Pitt is going for a Homer run, signing on to star in a big-screen adaptation of The Odyssey, following up his star turn in 2004's Troy, an adaptation of the Greek poet's other major work, The Iliad. This time around, the take won't be quite as faithful to the text—according to Variety, the new version will take place in a futuristic setting in outer space.
- Meanwhile Pitt may be making a double play next year, with yet another adaptation being developed as a potential vehicle for the megastar. Per Variety, the as-yet-untitled film will be based on the bestselling Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, centering on Oakland A's manager Billy Beane, who drafted his players on a nothing budget based on computer analysis.
- Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson have risen up to After.Life, a punctuation-loving psychological thriller centering on a woman caught between life and death and the funeral director gifted with helping such beings transition but who may have less-than-admirable intentions. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Ricci replaces Kate Bosworth in the lead.
- Kim Cattrall is a calendar girl. The Sex and the City maven has signed on to star in and as Miss January, which per Variety centers on a hormonally driven road trip in which a young man travels to find the onetime movie star object of his affection, only to discover she's now a middle-aged single mom in the midst of a custody battle.
- Kevin Smith is going out of this world for his next project, developing a futuristic space comedy per The Hollywood Reporter that will revolve around a father-son relationship.
- Mr. Helen Mirren, Ray director Taylor Hackford, has turned his cinematic eye to Merchant of Shanghai, per Variety. Hackford will direct the biopic of opium dealer and property magnate Silas Hardoon, who ushered the Chinese city into the 19th century.