Movie News: It's "Win Win" For Tom McCarthy

Movie News

It's "Win Win" For Tom McCarthy

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Tom McCarthy ("The Visitor," "The Station Agent") is set to direct "Win Win" for Fox Searchlight Pictures.

According to Vulture: “McCarthy's new film is a drama about a suburban New Jersey family and the teen runaway who changes their lives and turns around the sagging fortunes of a high school wrestling team. Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”) and Amy Ryan (“The Wire”) are set to star.

For those who don’t quite know him, the versatile McCarthy is that rare working actor, director and screenwriter who seemingly does everything well: He was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his work on Pixar's “Up,” which also was nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Picture.  It won Best Animated Feature.

McCarthy also directed the independent films “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor,” the latter of which got Richard Jenkins a Best Actor Oscar nomination last year. McCarthy also starred in the final season of HBO's “The Wire,” playing an overambitious Sun reporter who wins the Pulitzer by fabricating quotes and even entire subjects for his stories.

McCarthy has shown over the years how versatile he can be as an actor, and he has also proved himself as a worthy director. Jenkins was always a great character actor, but never did he receive more praise than when he teamed with McCarthy for “The Visitor.”

I am also a big fan of Amy Ryan, who has done well for herself on television (“The Office,” “The Wire”) and the movies (“Gone Baby Gone”), garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 2007.

Production will begin later this year.