Faris, Samberg Cast in Meatballs
Sony Pictures Animation Producing Judi and Ron Barrett Book
Actor Anna Faris (the Scary Movie series) has confirmed that she will voice one of the leads in Sony Pictures Animation's adaptation of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. She also names Andy Samberg (Hot Rod) as one of her co-stars
“I’m doing an animated movie when I get back called Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs,” Faris told MTV News while on the Albuquerque set of her current flick, Observe & Report. “It’s a kid’s book that Sony is adapting into a great big animated feature.”
The movie follows the events in the sleepy town of Chewsandswallow, a place where the sky rains food and beverages three times a day. The rain is juice and soup, the snow is mashed potatoes, and the wind blows hamburgers.
The husband-and-wife team of Judi and Ron Barrett, wrote and illustrated Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 1978. Aladdin Books originally published it in 1982.
Fans of the book should realize that Sony will be making changes to the original story as they take it to the silver screen. The writer/director team of Philip Lord and Chris Miller (Clone High) are re-imagining it as a comedic homage to disaster movies like Twister, Independence Day and Armageddon.
“It’s actually only loosely - very, very loosely - based on the book,” Faris confirms. “But it’s about a small town that rains food, basically. So hamburgers come down, and ice cream, and [the residents] have to figure out a way to [stop it]. Eventually, it gets more and more dangerous, and they have to figure out a way to stop the satellite machine that’s raining food.”
"Pretty much every disaster movie you've ever seen, I think, will be referenced," said Chris Miller, when SPA announced that they were adapting the book for the silver screen in August of 2006.
“It’s me and Andy Samberg,” Faris continues. “I’m actually not sure how many people I can talk about, because I’m not sure how many people are signed on. But let me just say I’m doing a voice, with a lot of great comedians.”
She will play a weather girl who finds herself caught in the middle of the strange phenomenon.
Rough Weather for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?
The combination of Sony plus Faris and Samberg is a mildly worrying one. Sony Pictures Animation's forays into CGI flicks has not been successful as they hoped: 2006's Open Season barely made enough to justify a direct-to-DVD sequel, and 2007's Surf's Up, while an interesting take on the "cute talking animals" genre, bombed at the box office.
Faris is also notorious for questionable acting choices. Other than the 4 Scary Movie films, she's also appeared in such less-than-stellar fare as My Super Ex-Girlfriend and the upcoming The House Bunny.
Other than his Saturday night Live duties, Samberg did the less-than-blockbusting Hot Rod, and has the upcoming Space Chimps on his resume.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is tentatively scheduled for a March 27, 2009 release.
