It's been five years since Alexander Payne practically set the world on fire with Sideways, a movie about a midlife crisis that got a lot of people excited about wine, of all things. Now he's finally ready to direct his fifth feature, an adaptation of the novel The Descendants, by Kaui Hart Hemmings.
To film the movie Payne will get in on some of that Lost action-- the film is set in Hawaii, where a father takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover. Because that couldn't possibly be a bad idea. Variety writes that Payne will be reteaming with Sideways distributor Fox Searchlight for the film, and filming will start at the end of the year or in 2010, after Payne has finished polishing Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's script.
Payne has another film in the works that already has a cast, Downsizing starring Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon. Apparently that movie is fairly gigantic, so Payne will spend some time filming a little Hawaiian dramedy and give Downsizing enough time to get ready.
