Todd Phillips Directing ‘Due Date’ and ‘Hangover 2′ Next

Director Todd Phillips

Hangover/Old School director Todd Phillips  has officially locked in his next two directing gigs, both which will star Zach Galifianakis. Phillips will begin filming Due Date this October, with Warner Brothers locking in the film for release in the first week of June 2010. That date appears to be a stronghold for comedies as The Hangover, Knocked Up and The Break-Up have all struck gold byopening in that weekend.  Due Date revolves around a father-to-be on a cross-country road trip to make the birth of his first child, accompanied by an odd companion (Galifianakis).

Phillips will then begin work on Hangover 2 in October 2010, with a release date set for Memorial Day Weekend 2011. This new comes as The Hangover surpassed Wedding Crashers to become the #2 R-Rated Comedy of all-time, trailing only Beverly Hills Cop.  Phillips (perhaps the shocking front runner for Frat Pack Man of the Year?) is reported to earn $35 million from The Hangover’s $210+ million gross after giving up his salary to become an “investment equity partner,” following the studio initial disapproval of his casting choices. But Phillips clearly knows comedy talent when he sees it:

“To me, the casting was as crystal clear as it was on ‘Old School,‘ ” Phillips said. “I remember some executives just didn’t understand the casting, and on ‘The Hangover,’ I felt we’d been seeing the same faces in a lot of comedies, and that it was time to mix it up.

“Warners was a bit apprehensive, but Jeff said very politely, ‘Look, I’ll make the version you want… if you can do it for this number. That number basically required me to take no money and cut back in other areas as well. But I’ll gamble on myself anytime.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Casting, The Hangover, The Hangover 2, Todd Phillips, Zach Galifianakis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.