Here’s a tip, indie producers, cast Zoe Kazan in anything and I’ll buy a ticket. Toss in Jake Johnson and I’m convinced someone cast this film out of my dreams. Deadline Portland reports that Kazan and Johnson will star in Jenee LaMarque’s Black List script, The Pretty One, which was also a finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship and Zoetrope screenplay contest.
LaMarque will also make her directorial debut with the project, which is billed as an “offbeat comedy” that centers on Kazan’s as an “awkward but loveable young woman who is mistaken for her dead ‘perfect’ identical twin, and seizes the chance to masquerade as her sister. But when she falls in love with her twin’s eccentric next door neighbor, she finds herself wanting to live her own imperfect life, and have the truth come out.” Oh, man, sounds wacky! But also lovable…and possibly eccentric.
There’s nothing quite like a good mistaken identity romantic comedy, and I’m sure the film will be rife with all sorts of missteps, awkward moments, and near-misses until some big, emotional reveal. Though that all sounds like standard stuff, the heaps of praise that the film’s script has received, along with this rising star cast, hint that perhaps we’re in for a surprise treat. Consider my ticket bought.
This is Kazan’s second romantic leading role announcement within the last two months, as Nathan told us last month that she’ll star in the Joss Whedon-penned romance In Your Eyes, and she’ll also appear in the Neil LaBute-scripted Some Girls, starring Adam Brody. Kazan has slowly become one of my very favorite indie it girls (a distinction that will likely only be furthered by Ruby Sparks, her feature writing debut out this summer), and Johnson has recently become everybody’s favorite sidekick (thanks to his television work on New Girl and his feature appearances in No Strings Attached and the upcoming Safety Not Guaranteed). Kazan and Johnson as romantic partners in an “offbeat comedy”? Excellent.