Consider this a bit of friendly advice ‐ get on the Scoot McNairy train now. The actor has been steadily working in Hollywood for over a decade, with roles in film and television projects as varied as Herbie: Fully Loaded and The Shield, but he’s best known for his break-out role in Gareth Edwards’s 2010 indie gem, Monsters. Since then, McNairy has collected a series of interesting roles from a variety of filmmakers that should (and, if Hollywood has any sense, will) make a household name out of him. McNairy will next be seen in Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly (the project formerly known as Cogan’s Trade) and Ben Affleck’s Argo. Not too shabby, right?
Let’s just go ahead and add two more high profile roles to McNairy’s resume ‐ Deadline Mexico City reports that he’s signed on for a supporting role in Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land and the lead male role in Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely. All aboard the McNairy Express.
Promised Land is, of course, the Matt Damon and John Krasinski-penned project that Damon was once tapped to direct. The pair will star in the film as well, one that is reportedly centers on “a salesman [who] experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town.” McNairy’s role gives us further insight into the film ‐ he’ll play a character who “leads a group of farmers that stand up when Damon’s character tries to drill on their land.” So perhaps those rumors that the film will involve fracking are true.
When it comes to the Shelton project, over at The Playlist, the buzz is that Touchy Feely might just be the new name for Laggies, a project the director signed on for last summer. We do know that the film also stars Ellen Page and Rosemarie DeWitt, and should this just be a newly-titled Laggies, McNairy sounds like a good fit for the role. The film “follows a woman who responds to her boyfriend’s marriage proposal by pretending to go on a retreat, but spends a week hanging out with some new high-school age friends instead.”
Additionally, McNairy is also producing a new project with his manager/producing partner John Pierce, an indie film titled Frank and Cindy, that GJ Echternkamp is set to direct. A scripted version of Echternkamp’s 2007 documentary of the same name, the film centers “on the filmmaker’s dysfunctional parents and his relationship with them.” Rene Russo and Michael Pena are already signed to star in the film.
