In 1970, film critic Roger Ebert was tapped to write the script for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the parodic sequel to 1967’s Valley of the Dolls (which Ebert himself said “tries to raise itself to the level of sophisticated pornography, but fails”). Beyond was just as widely maligned as its predecessor, and it remains a strange blip in Ebert’s otherwise sterling career.
Now, The Book of Mormon‘s Josh Gad (who you might also know as the voice of a certain singing snowman) has signed on to play Ebert in Russ & Roger, Michael Winterbottom’s telling of the Beyond the Valley of the Dolls story. Starring alongside Gad is Will Ferrell, who will play Beyond director Russ Meyer, whose other credits—just to give you an idea of what we’re dealing with here—include Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Vixen!, Supervixens, a mockumentary with the excellent name Mondo Topless, and the aborted Sex Pistols feature Who Killed Bambi? and whose headstone declares him to be “King of the Nudies.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Russ & Roger “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 other words, it ain’t Frozen.
(via Flavorwire)
