When it was announced that David Wain would be directing Role Models — taking over from The Girl Next Door’s Luke Greenfield — there was room for disappointment. After all, for Wain to follow up his anarchic cult favorites Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten with a seemingly mainstream man-child comedy — one more suited to the talents of Todd Phillips or, well, Greenfield — was to crush his fans’ hopes for something more along the lines of his wacky web series, such as Wainy Days and Stella, or the old MTV sketch comedy show, The State.

But Role Models does look funny, probably because Wain ended up rewriting (with Paul Rudd and Ken Marino) Timothy Dowling’s original script. And it’s not as if Wain has suddenly gone and sold out with a bunch of really broad family films, as did his former State mates Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant, the screenwriting duo behind The Pacifier, Night at the Museum and Taxi. Still, many of us are holding out for that rumored State movie, or even better, a big screen adaptation of any of the following State sketches:

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• Ahhh! Between Adam Sandler pretending to be Israeli and Jack Black pretending to be cute, nobody knows who’s going to win the weekend box office! Will 8 year-olds be able to clear their schedules to see both?!?!?
• Serial Andrew Lloyd Webber enabler Cameron Macintosh will co-produce a remake of My Fair Lady, starring Keira Knightley in the Julie Andrews role. Though the producers say they’ll keep the story set in 1912, they’re not only calling it an “update”, but they’re planning on shooting the musical in actual London locations.
• F. Gary Gray has landed complete rights to the Marvin Gaye catalog, giving his Gaye biopic a theoretical leg-up on another Gaye biopic, one slated to star Jesse L. Martin, which Variety says will only “focus on the singer’s declining years, because the filmmakers have rights to use songs only from his post-Motown career.” Also, that film though “reportedly skedded to start last month in Europe, has not begun production.”

Last night, Paul and I went to see Venus, starring Peter O’Toole. It was a film Paul had heard much about at Telluride but had missed, so we were glad to catch it. The man who introduced the film said he thinks it’s one to watch for an Oscar nomination and possibly award for O’Toole. I’m not one to make such predictions, but it was an amazing performance. Listen as Paul and I talk about what works in the film (the treatment of larger issues and themes) and what doesn’t work quite as well (like some cliche moments a bit too reminiscent of Pretty Woman and My Fair Lady).

Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast