Jay Mohr gets stuck doing a lot of crap. While he does have the occational gem on his resume, like the cancelled-too-soon TV show Action, Go, and Jerry Maguire, most of his career has been spent doing crappy movies and short-lived sitcoms. He has talent but rarely gets the opportunity to show it off. Hopefully Burt Wonderstone can do something to buck that trend.
The Wrap has learned that Mohr has signed on to star in the Don Scardino-directed magician comedy. In the film, Steve Carrell plays the titular aging slight of hand artist, who sees his career and passion for magic fade when his partner is killed in a dangerous stunt. Coming back from the brink, though, requires him to outperform a rival flashy illusionist. The film already has an amazing supporting cast that includes Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, Brad Garrett, Steve Buscemi , and James Gandolfini. In the movie, Mohr will play a magician named Rick the Implausible, though the character description ends there. The most recent draft of the script was worked on by Jason Reitman and the film is expected to arrive sometime in 2013.
I'm actually super excited for this project. Scardino is a bit untested in the feature film world, but if his skills on 30 Rock (of which he's directed more than 70 episodes) are an indication, then he should do just fine. This cast is filled top to bottom with fantastic performers, and we can only hope that the script being worked on is worthy of their talents.
