Ricky Gervais will direct Eric Bana in Special Correspondents, a remake of the 2009 French comedy Envoyés Très Spéciaux, with the British comic also due to take one of the lead roles, reports Variety.
Gervais will write the screenplay for the film, which centres on a New York radio journalist (Bana) who decides to fake war-zone reports from his Manhattan flat in an effort to revive his flagging career. In the French original, the reports motivate the entire country to push for the release of the journalist and his colleague, who are believed to have been taken hostage in Iraq.
Gervais directed the 2010 comedy Cemetery Junction, set in his hometown of Reading, and the 2009 romantic comedy The Invention of Lying, in which he starred opposite Jennifer Garner. Both movies received middling to decent reviews.
Frédéric Auburtin’s original film starred Gérard Jugnot, Gérard Lanvin and Omar Sy. There is a long tradition of Hollywood remaking French comedies, from Three Men and a Baby and Taxi to Dinner for Schmucks.
