When the reports first broke, they placed Martin Scorcese in the director’s chair for The Comedian, which is set to star Robert De Niro. According to The NY Post though, the reports were wrong and instead, it will be Sean Penn directing. The film, which follows “the exploits of an aging, bitterly funny insult comic described to be in the vein of Don Rickles meets Joan Rivers,” will shoot in New York next year with a script written by Art Linson and Jeffrey Ross.
As of now, neither De Niro or Penn’s involvement are 100% confirmed and neither are locked in. That being said, it’s more than likely that this is how the film will go down, unless something unexpected happens. And if it indeed does come down to Sean Penn directing Robert De Niro, I’d be first in line for this one.
Sean Penn has directed before, most notably was his film Into The Wild (one of my personal favorites) and I’d love to see him get back behind the camera. He’s also pretty selective about his projects so I’d assume that the script for The Comedian is pretty strong. As for De Niro, let’s be honest, the guy is kind of washed up. He hasn’t done anything good in a while (although he wasn’t too bad in Limitless). He needs a film where he can shine, a film that reminds us why he’s one of the greatest actors of our generation. Could The Comedian be that film?
What do you think?
