The year 2008 must have been a strange one for Clark Gregg, as that year marked the multi-hyphenate’s big break into the Marvel Universe with the debut of his role as Agent Coulson in Iron Man. Since then, Gregg has gone on to co-star in other Marvel properties Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Avengers, along with taking center stage in two of Marvel’s “One-Shot” short films. And while that success has been quite well-deserved, it does come with a footnote, because 2008 was also the year that Gregg’s directorial debut, Choke (from the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name), hit screens.
The Sam Rockwell-starring film bowed at the Sundance Film Festival, earning a Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic nod for Gregg and a Special Jury Prize, Dramatic for his cast (which also included Anjelica Huston, a still-emerging Kelly Macdonald, and Brad William Henke), but it went on to earn less than $4m in worldwide release. Fight Club this was not. And Gregg hasn’t written or directed a film since – which is a shame, because Choke is nothing short of excellent and exuberant and insane and true to the spirit of Palahniuk’s work and complete with some wonderfully oddball performances). In short, we’ve been waiting for a new Gregg film ever since.
And now we’re getting one.
A press release circulated today (via ComingSoon) reveals that, not only will Gregg write and direct a new dark comedy that already has a solid cast in place (including Rockwell, Amanda Peet, Paul Sparks, Felicity Huffman, Allison Janney, William H. Macy, and Molly Shannon), but that he’s already started filming it. Well-played, Coulson.
The film is called Trust Me and it centers on “ the sordid world of child stars and the obsession with stardom. The story follows a loser agent for young actors – and a washed-up child star himself – who stumbles upon a brilliant 13-year-old prodigy (to be played by newcomer Saxon Sharbino) and then tries to close the mega-deal that will make her a star while managing her drunk volatile father, the poaching attempts of a more successful nemesis and a growing awareness that his innocent young starlet may not be at all what she seems.”
Filming began on the project last week in Los Angeles. Perhaps Gregg will hit Sundance with another delightfully off-kilter film come January. I’d be the first one in line.
