According to Variety, Eddie Murphy has signed on as the lead in NowhereLand, a new comedy from Paramount Pictures about a man who solves a career crisis by visiting an imaginary world thought up by his daydreaming daughter. Before you shrug it off as another goofy diet-gross-out family comedy in the vein of Doctor Dolittle and Daddy Day Care, keep in mind that the producers specifically chose Murphy based on his late-breakthrough performance in Dreamgirls, and more importantly, keep in mind that it's from the offbeat writing duo of Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, best known as the creators and writers of the Bill and Ted series.
Variety doesn't mention it, but we're pretty damn sure this is the same project as the previously announced Me and Olivia, which was inspired by Solomon's own kid. Solomon was also attached to direct at that point (he previously directed Billy Bob Thornton in 2003's Levity), but there's no mention of a director in this new development. Matheson has also taken a stab at the chair before, with the underseen sci-fi comedy Evil Alien Conquerors, starring Diedrich Bader and Chris Parnell.
It's great news to see the pair working together again, but it's a poor substitute for any new information on Automatons, their dream project which was in the early stages of development a few years ago but died out without studio support. That little treasure involves two robots who were long ago programmed to kill Adolf Hitler, but got chucked into the ocean after he killed himself, where they continue to this day searching for their target on the sea floor, until Hitler is cloned and put back in action, causing the U.S. government to seek out the droids and let them finish their job. Supposedly, voice over was already recorded, with John C. Reilly and Jack Black as the titular characters, and John Cleese as the Great Dictator. Yes please?
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