Kristen Wiig Joins Robert DeNiro in “the Comedian”

Sean Penn’s latest project, the Comedian, picks up an actress to star opposite Robert DeNiro: Kristen Wiig, star of Bridesmaids. Before Penn took the reigns, the Comedian was supposed to be the project that DeNiro and Martin Scorsese reunite in, but Scorsese didn’t take the project. Although that would have been a perfect match, as it has been eight times before, Penn is a solid director and the combo of Wiig and DeNiro sounds odd enough to work.

DeNiro will be playing the lead role of Jackie Burke, a fading star on the stand-up circuit who is holding on to every last bit of recognition that comes his way, desperate to spark his crumbling career. Wiig will be playing Harmony, a “dazzling and defiant redhead” who meets Jackie while he’s doing community service for hitting someone in the head with a microphone.

This sounds like it could’ve been somewhat of  a sequel to the King of Comedy if Scorsese had jumped on board, but it still sounds like an interesting project with Penn in the director’s chair. The Pledge and Into the Wild were great films, showing that Penn has very capable directorial talent. The script was written by comic Jeff Ross, and was produced by Art Linson.

Whoever  thinks females aren’t funny hasn’t seen Wiig in a film. She’s an odd choice to star opposite DeNiro, but the two may be the perfect odd couple.

The whole fading star aspect of the Jackie character fits DeNiro, who has, let’s face it, been in more unsuccessful films as of late. Once again, this is a film that have people saying “this could be his comeback movie!” Hopefully, after the film is released people won’t be saying “this could’ve been his comeback movie.”