More often than not, actors do not make very good directors. There are exceptions of course: Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Jon Favreau, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney, just to name a few. Renee Zellweger was never someone I even thought would give it a shot behind the camera.
Zellweger will make her directorial debut with the movie 4 1/2 MINUTES. Zellweger will star in the film as well along with Johnny Knoxville. The movie is set in New York City’s stand-up milieu with Knoxville playing a commitment-phobic comic whose life is falling apart when he takes a job looking after single mom Zellweger’s genius son. The story is based on the comedy of real-life stand-up Dov Davidoff.
4 1/2 MINUTES is being described as a comedy. The screenplay comes from Anthony Tambakis who wrote last year’s WARRIOR. I would expect that this would be somewhere more along the lines of a comedy-drama. While Zellweger has experience producing films, I cannot find any information regarding her ever aspiring to direct. I hope we will be pleasantly surprised.
4 1/2 MINUTES is currently being shopped at the Toronto International Film Festival with aims to begin production in February.
What do you think of Renee Zellweger’s potential as a director?