Lobell & Bergman Set ‘Eisner’ As First Comedy Collaboration In 17 Years
Mike Lobell and Andrew Bergman, once partners in a thriving production company, are back together for the first time in 17 years. They are planning an October start in New York on Eisner, a film that Bergman scripted and will direct, and which Lobell is producing.
The film is a comedy about a young man trying to discover what happened to his family during WWll. Typical of Bergman’s scripts, nothing turns out the way Eisner had hoped or expected. The ensemble they’ve put together has Judith Light, Paul Reiser, Isla Fisher, the Serbian comic Branko Djuric, Rob Reiner and Audra McDonald. They are zeroing in on a lead actor for the title role. Robert Halmi Jr and Great Point Media are in discussions to finance.
In their heyday, the Lobell Bergman partnership brought films that included So Fine, The Freshman, Honeymoon in Vegas, It Could Happen to You and Striptease. Those were written and directed by Bergman, whose first two scripting credits were the Mel Brooks-directed Blazing Saddles and then the original Arthur Hiller-directed The In-Laws, which starred Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Lobell and Bergman are using their old production moniker, but right now the plan is for a single picture. If it’s a hit, who knows?
(Deadline)
This project was also mentioned by producer Mike Lobell back in November 2012:
Mike Lobell interview with Screen Daily about ‘Gambit’
But as you say, you’re proud of the movie. What’s next?ML: I’m back with Andy Bergman, my old partner from back in the day, for the first time since Isn’t She Great [2000]. We’re doing an ensemble comedy called A Film By Alan Stuart Eisner with Robin Williams, Isla Fisher, Shirley MacLaine, Rob Reiner and Oliver Cooper from Project X. I’ve also got a love story called This Man This Woman based on a script by Frederic Raphael and I’m in talks with a major lead. And I have Airtight from a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais that Castle Rock’s Martin Shafer and Liz Glotzer will produce with me.