Reilly Shows Up for Cirque Du Freak

Reilly ponders vampire-dom

John C. Reilly is joining the Cirque. The Cirque Du Freak, that is.

(I know. You were all hoping to see Reilly in a Cirque Du Soleil thing, maybe wearing a colorful spandex and sequined outfit , with mime type make-up, juggling balloons while dancing on a giant wheel. To the accompaniment of Pink Floyd as covered by Norah Jones.)

Freak is the first in a well-liked series of children’s books by Darren Shan. In this one, two kids sneak out to visit a freak show and become tangled up with vampires and giant spiders. Reilly will be playing Larten Crepsley, the lead vampire.

(Cheers to Reilly! This is why it rocks to be a character actor–he gets to play a vampire, a hard-living country star, a member of a NASCAR pit crew, sing in a musical, and do about 8,000 other things.)

Variety tells us that Universal holds the rights to all twelve Cirque books. Paul Weitz is doing the adaptation and directing. This is presumably his bid for the children/fantasy slot on his resume; brother Chris is busy crossing his fingers and hoping for the best with the upcoming Golden Compass.

Paul Weitz did a good job with About a Boy and In Good Company (the latter is a particularly thoughtful movie that slipped by a lot of people), but bombed with the ill-conceived American Dreamz. I’m hoping for the best with this one (I’m always hoping for the best!! While it’s fun to pick on bad movies, I do want them to be good! Really!).

Here’s why I’m always pro-Weitz brothers. Have you ever seen Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959)? If not, do! The very Sirk-ian (Cirque-ian?) ’50s melodrama features a star-making, furious performance by a young actress named Susan Kohner (a Natalie Wood type). Alas, Ms. Kohner dropped out of movie-making soon to marry and have children. However, those children are Paul and Chris Weitz, who’ve managed to carry on the family business in a rather accomplished fashion.