Bill Hader Looking to Join Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in ‘Paul’

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 26, 2009

Sometimes movie rumors are started in odd places. And as Russ over at CHUD points out, sometimes even a non-movie related interview can turn out some interesting news — such as the news that Bill Hader may have spilled on ESPN’s The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons. While talking about his latest film Adventureland, which hits theaters April 3 (read my review here), Hader mentioned that he may be looking to team up with director Greg Mattola again in the very near future. “Greg [Mottola], he’s the best,” Hader explained. “I’m actually, hopefully, gonna be in his next movie, which is called Paul, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost”

And unlike those of us on the film side, Simmons failed to take that any further — following up Hader’s statement with “so, this one [Adventureland], is set in the ’80s!” Which is awesome, because none of us really have any interest in finding out which character Hader is eying, or what is drawing him toward the project. Alas, I’m sure that if negotiations are under way we will see some sort of announcement in the near future. As well, Hader is still doing press all over the place for Adventureland’s release next week, so I would suppose that at some point he will run across a journo who gives a flying monkey’s ass about film — and hopefully that person will remember to ask him for more details.

Set for a 2010 release, Paul will tell the story of two British comic book geeks who travel together across the United States, experiencing the highlights of American culture along the way. It is being co-written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, with Greg Mattola attached to direct. From where I sit, Hader would be a good addition to just about anything that is intended to be humorous. The man is very funny, though I found Mattola’s work on Adventureland to be very subdued, so it will be interesting to see what sort of energy — based on the mix between a Frost/Pegg script and a Mattola vision — Paul will have. Either way, Hader works.

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