Todd Phillips On "Due Date," "Hangover 2"

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Director Todd Phillips has divulged details on the sequel to his massively successful film, "The Hangover," and says that editing is underway on "Due Date," his next project, reports Coming Soon.

According to the site: Phillips is in the process of cutting down “Due Date” from 125 minutes to about 100. Said Phillips: "I always subscribe to that number--it should be 100 minutes. So, that's always around where it lands. I love editing. Editing, you have to be ruthless on yourself. Sometimes you look at a scene, it took three days to shoot, it costs so much money, it was all these things. You have to forget all that when you're editing. This slows the movie down… bye. Or this isn't working… bye. It's time to get ruthless when you're editing. I love that part actually."

The director also added that everyone on the set, including star Robert Downey Jr., were in awe of scene-stealer Zach Galifianakis. “He's totally different (in "Due Date") than he is in 'The Hangover,” said Phillips.

In “Due Date” the story centers on a high-strung father-to-be (Downey Jr.), who is forced to hitch a ride with a college slacker (Galifianakis) on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time.

The director also says he's currently working on the script for "The Hangover" sequel, which will start shooting this summer for a Memorial Day 2011 release.

Fans hoping for a return to Sin City shouldn’t hold their breaths: "What's really ultimately appealing about 'The Hangover' is these four guys and their interaction. It's not even Vegas. It's not so much the device as it is the characters… you can take those guys and put them somewhere else and go through a new set of situations and circumstances, and hopefully it's just as interesting.”

But the director didn’t add where the new film will take place. Said Phillips: "I've been instructed by Warner’s not to, but I think you'll be surprised by the setting and the circumstances of how they end up there."

Phillips has been making hilarious movies for years, including “Old School," “Road Trip” and “Starsky and Hutch,” but until the mega-success of “The Hangover,” he hadn’t received all the recognition I felt he deserved. But now that’s changed, and with these two projects on the horizon (both looking to be very funny), he appear to be on course to continue that streak.

Pairing Downey Jr. and Galifianakis is a genius move, and surprisingly I find myself more excited for “Due Date” than I am about the “Hangover” sequel.

“Due Date” will be released in November 2010.