Josh Gad will play Roger Ebert in Russ & Roger opposite Will Ferrell

While I didn't always agree with Roger Ebert's reviews, I've definitely missed his voice in the years following his death. That voice is set to return, in a form, now that Josh Gad has closed a deal to star as Roger Ebert in RUSS & ROGER which is described as "a debaucherous comedy centering on two outsiders who defied the Hollywood establishment and made one of the first X-rated films ever released by a major movie studio, having the party of a lifetime in the process."

In the late 1960's Roger Ebert teamed up with sexploitation king Russ Meyer and wrote BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, an X-rated satire that was destined to become a 1970's cult classic, but not before the pair fought numerous battles with both the studio and the ratings board. Will Ferrell is already on board to play Russ Meyer alongside Josh Gad in the Michael Winterbottom directed film.

Gad's involvement in the film was first rumoured in January, but it's taken this long to finally get a deal together.