If you can think of one thing that Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup and Greg Kinnear have in common-- and I'm having trouble thinking of much-- it's that they're all actors who don't really show where you expect them. No one would watch Crudup in something like Stage Beauty and assumed he'd wind up as the giant blue Dr. Manhattan, or assume that Arkin's first Oscar after a 40-odd year career would be as a drug-huffing grandpa. They keep you on your toes, and I like that.
So what will happen when all three share the screen in the indie production The Convincer? Something wild and maybe great, I'm guessing. Variety writes that the three have signed on to the film directed by Jill Sprecher from a script she co-wrote with Karen Sprecher, about an insurance salesman's scheme to steal a rare violin. Producers Christine Walker and Elizabeth Redleaf were behind the Sundance opening night film Howl, and if you had to assume, couldn't you see The Convincers showing up on the Sundance 2011 slate? Sounds just bizarre enough, but with just enough potential, to be a perfect fit.
