Call me crazy, but the prospect of yet another comedy co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James sounds nearly as enjoyable as wearing boxers made out of piranhas. That said, I’m still looking forward to Chris Columbus’ Pixels, which is close to reaching a level of actual legitimacy now that the massively talented Peter Dinklage is in early talks to star. A Lannister always pays his debts, but let’s see how they do when it comes to playing video games.
This high-concept project will stick James in the highest office of the land as the President of the United States, as New York City is in danger of being attacked by a squadron of video game characters from the 1980s. (Seems like the kind of thing that would happen only on a Monday.) James calls upon his high school friends, played by Sandler and Josh Gad, to help him stop the pixelated foes from turning the country into a bleeping-blooping war zone. According to THR, Dinklage would enter the story as a loudmouth gamer champion who is an expert at Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. I wonder if we’ll be seeing any cameos from actual record holders, as seen in documentaries like The King of Kong and Chasing Ghosts.
Columbus is no stranger to big concepts, as he’s gone from directing the first two Home Alone films to the first two Harry Potter films. He’ll be directing from a script written by Timothy Dowling, of This Means War and Just Go With It fame, and Tim Herlihy, a former SNL writer who has worked on more than a few Happy Madison productions over the years, including Bedtime Stories and Grown Ups 2. They "adapted" the short film of the same name from Patrick Jean, who will serve as an executive producer. Check out the awesomely crafted short below.
While it seems like Dinklage couldn’t be any more popular at this point – the upcoming fourth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones has people salivating all over themselves and others – it’s only going to get better for him in May as he stars as Bolivar Trask in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as Phil Alden Robinson’s R-rated comedy The Angriest Man in Brooklyn opposite Robin Williams. And Family Guy fans will hear his voice on Sunday as he guest stars in the episode "Secondhand Spoke."
Long live Tyrion!
