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Nicholas Stoller to Direct 'Townies' with Seth Rogen and Zac Efron

by Ben Pearson
May 21, 2012
Source: THR

Last summer, we heard that Universal won a huge bidding war for an untitled comedy starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. That project now has a name, Townies, and in it Rogen plays a regular guy who lives close to a college fraternity house, with Efron taking the role of a raucous member of the frat who makes Rogen's family life miserable. Sounds like something Todd Phillips would direct with its similarities to Old School, but THR reports Get Him To The Greek director Nicholas Stoller has secured the director's chair instead. Sounds like a good step back into rambunctious comedy after his funny-but-sweet Five-Year Engagement.

Funny People producers Andrew Cohen & Brendan O'Brien wrote the script, which sold for a whopping 7-figures during last year's bidding war. It's cool to see how Stoller can operate under the Apatow umbrella but still make these projects feel like his own movies. He's not locked into anything or pigeonholed as a filmmaker, as proven by his jaunt over to Disney with Jason Segel to write The Muppets. But the reason I'm most psyched for this project? Zac Efron. (Bet you didn't think I'd say that!) Efron gave a great comedic performance in a little film called Liberal Arts that played at Sundance this year, and I'm really hoping that Townies will be his 21 Jump Street and turn public perception around like Channing Tatum did for himself.

Filed under Development, Movie News

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