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After making close to fifteen hundred movies in the past month, Zach Galifianakis is now in talks to star in a serious dramatic role for the writer/director team that gave us Half Nelson.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Galifianakis is in talks to sign on with It’s Kind of a Funny Story being directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck and Anna Boden. Based off the novel, it’s the story of a young man who ends up in the adult ward of a mental institution, meets some mentally unstable adults, and falls in love with a girl (who will apparently be played by Emma Roberts).

No word yet on whether Galifianakis will have to shave his beard to be around the children.

Having him play a more dramatic role is genius because the guy definitely has it in him. Make no mistake. Despite starting out in stand up (and I use the phrase as loosely as calling Steve Martin’s original bits “stand up”), Galifiankis has a broad emotional range and can do far more than act stoned and grow a beard. Plus, after he shows up in Due Date as a slacker, it’ll be good for the masses to see him as a lovable insane person that’s institutionalized instead of one just roaming the streets with Robert Downey Jr.

Cameras start rolling this fall.

What do you think?