You’d think that by now, someone would have made a movie out of David Sedaris’ work. It almost happened back in 2001- four stories from Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” were optioned into a feature film, with Wayne Wang set to direct, but after Sedaris pulled out, fearing his family would be portrayed poorly onscreen, the project quickly fell apart.
It seems the famed humorist has finally had a change of heart. Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s C.O.G. (which stands for Child of God), an adaptation of one of the stories from Sedaris’ “Naked,” marks the first time his work will be seen on the big screen.
This trailer’s got charm to spare, but C.O.G. seems like it’ll hinge on its lead actor’s performance more than anything else. From this two minutes of footage, Jonathan Groff (who’ll be playing the Sedaris-based lead) looks as though he’s got that standoffish snark down pat, but the actor’s biggest claim to fame is his part on Glee, a television show not known for its subtlety. Hopefully, more intelligent source material will overcome any urges he has to break out into song.
The film’s supporting cast is more than capable of helping him along, with relatively-unknown-yet-still-talented names like Corey Stoll (House of Cards) and Dale Dickey (Winter’s Bone, Breaking Bad) rounding out the cast. Be on the lookout for this one.
C.O.G. releases on September 20th.
