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Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow first met making “Clockwatchers,” a 1997 indie comedy in which they play temps in a dull office. Back then, Posey was establishing a reputation as a burgeoning legend of independent film who would soon enough cross over in projects like “You’ve Got Mail” and “Scream 3,” while Kudrow was already a superstar thanks to her role as the quirky Phoebe Buffay on “Friends.”

Both have experienced cult TV fame in the years since — Posey as Jack’s nemesis on “Will & Grace,” Kudrow as a washed-up actress-turned-reality star on “The Comeback” — and both put their stamp on projects this past season. Posey drawled her way through the role of wealthy matriarch Victoria Ratliff on the HBO franchise “The White Lotus,” while Kudrow delivered a sensitive, painful performance as Lydia Morgan, a grieving mother who believes her late son communicates with her through flickering lights on Netflix...

Parker Posey had a memorable role in Scream 3, and despite her character's apparent exit from the franchise, the actress has an idea about how she could return. The third film in the slasher Scream franchise, Scream 3 is set one year after the events of Scream 2 and follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who has isolated herself after the murders that have haunted her. In Hollywood, the Stab franchise film-within-a-film is going strong, but when the cast of Stab 3 begins to get killed off, Sidney returns to help uncover who the new Ghostface is.

One of the lowest-rated movies in the Scream series, Scream 3 marked a noticeable shift into comedy, emphasizing humor over violence and horror. Along with the usual cast of the Scream movies, Scream 3 features some notable newcomers, including Emily Mortimer, Kelly Rutherford, Patrick Dempsey, Carrie Fisher, and Parker Posey. Parker Posey was coming off...

Patti Yasutake, known to fans for appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation and two of its connected feature films, has passed away. She was 70 years old.

Per Variety, Yasutake, who was living with cancer, died on Aug. 5 in Santa Monica. Her manager, Kyle Fritz, confirmed her passing with a statement that noted, Patti was my first client when I began over 30 years ago. We enjoyed every day we got to work together, and I will miss her spirit talent and tenacity but most of all her friendship.

Yasutake played the role of Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, originally one of the head nurses in sickbay, in Star Trek: The Next Generation. She would appear in 16 episodes of the series, which includes the character memorably getting promoted by Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) in the Season 7 episode "Lower Decks." Yasutake would also get the chance to play Ogawa on the big screen,...

The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.

Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988

An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...

The 4K restoration and re-release of the comedy Party Girl brings Parker Posey to Back To One. Shortly after the success of that movie in 1995, she went on to star in so many independent films, like The Daytrippers, Clockwatchers, The House of Yes (not to mention a bunch of Hal Hartley and Christopher Guest classics), that she was dubbed “Queen of the Indies.” On this episode, she explains why that moniker was oddly detrimental to her career. She talks about recent experiences on the sets of Beau Is Afraid and The Staircase; the connection between actors and athletes; why, […]

The post “It’s a Difficult Sport”: Parker Posey first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The 4K restoration and re-release of the comedy Party Girl brings Parker Posey to Back To One. Shortly after the success of that movie in 1995, she went on to star in so many independent films, like The Daytrippers, Clockwatchers, The House of Yes (not to mention a bunch of Hal Hartley and Christopher Guest classics), that she was dubbed “Queen of the Indies.” On this episode, she explains why that moniker was oddly detrimental to her career. She talks about recent experiences on the sets of Beau Is Afraid and The Staircase; the connection between actors and athletes; why, […]

The post “It’s a Difficult Sport”: Parker Posey first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

One of my favorite things about interviews is seeing things in a new light from the cast and creatives who bring entertainment to life.

From my perspective, tales of the Walking Dead "Blair/Gina" is a beautiful addition to the Twd universe.

As much as I enjoyed it and saw the symmetry between Blair and Gina, speaking with Parker Posey offers insight into the characters and story that only someone on the inside could provide.

Parker dove into The Walking Dead universe without any background. Well, very little by way of experience, anyway.

Parker hasn't watched The Walking Dead or its offshoots for many reasons, including her fear of things that go bump in the dark and her desire to watch programming from start to finish without interruption.

She has recognized the force of The Walking Dead's fan base, which, together with her appearance on Blair/Gina, will be...

Exclusive: Glynn Turman (Women of the Movement), Bob Balaban (The French Dispatch), Ron Funches (Undateable) and Jimmy O. Yang (Space Force) are the latest additions to the cast of the upcoming film 80 for Brady, from Paramount Pictures and Endeavor Content. They join an ensemble that includes 7-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, as well as Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Sara Gilbert, as previously announced.

The film is inspired by the true story of four best friends and New England Patriots fans who take a life-changing trip to the 2017 Super Bowl Li to see their hero Tom Brady play, and the chaos that ensues as they navigate the wilds of the biggest sporting event in the country. Details with regard to the characters the newest additions to the cast will be playing have not been disclosed.

Kyle Marvin, who co-wrote and starred in Sony Pictures Classics’ The Climb,...

Exclusive: Alanna Ubach has joined the Season 2 cast of HBO Max’s critically acclaimed series The Flight Attendant as a recurring guest star.

She’ll appear in the new season—which is currently in production—alongside returning series regulars Kaley Cuoco, Zosia Mamet, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz and Rosie Perez; new series regulars Mo McRae, Callie Hernandez and JJ Soria; returning recurring guest stars T.R. Knight, Yasha Jackson and Audrey Grace Marshall; and new recurring guest stars Cheryl Hines, Jessie Ennis, Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Santiago Cabrera and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

The Max Original based on Chris Bohjalian’s 2018 novel of the same name centers on Cassie Bowden (Cuoco), a reckless flight attendant with an alcoholism problem who in Season 1, wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man—and no idea what happened. Season 2 finds Cassie living her best sober life in Los...

The July lineup at The Criterion Channel has been revealed, most notably featuring the new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the recent box set release, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand.

Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.

With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Monte Hellman and his dog Kona. Monte Hellman, cult director of The Shooting (1966), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Road to Nowhere (2010) has died. Hellman spoke with Notebook on several occasions about his films, decrying the committee-designed quality of new films while staying true to his own long-held principles: "I am aware of continually breaking rules." Léos Carax's first English-language film, the musical Annette, will be opening the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 6th. The film will simultaneously be released in French cinemas. Two other Cannes titles have also been announced, having been selected for last year's postponed edition of the festival: Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta. Steven Soderbergh is undertaking the overwhelming creative task of staging this year's Oscars ceremony. As Soderbergh says, the project is "the walking...

It looks like Parker Posey will climb aboard the Jupiter 2, as the actress has reportedly joined Netflix's Lost in Space remake series to play a key role familiar to fans of the original show.

Deadline reports that Posey (Scream 3, Blade: Trinity, Louie, Clockwatchers, Best in Show) will play Dr. Smith, a character who was the initial antagonist and (eventual) source of occasional comic relief portrayed by Jonathan Harris in the original series, which aired from 1965–1968 on CBS. Fans of the show will remember Dr. Smith as someone who set out to sabotage the Robinson family on their space voyage aboard the Jupiter 2 (originally referred to as the Gemini 12). No specific details about Posey's version of Dr. Smith have been revealed at this time.

Season one of the new Lost in Space series will consist of ten episodes and is slated to premiere in 2018 on Netflix. Neil Marshall (The Descent,...

For the last two decades, Parker Posey has been bringing audiences to their knees so quickly, you'd think Darla just shouted, "Air Raid!" Seamlessly segueing between indie cinema and popcorn fare (not to mention jumping from film to television and back again), the actress has established herself as one of the most versatile, gifted and beguiling in the biz.

Posey's latest film, the biting Price Check, casts her as Susan Felders, the newly appointed head of pricing and marketing for a supermarket franchise tasked with salvaging a failing chain. But things don't go exactly as planned for Susan, the company or its employees. Thankfully, Posey's professional plan is firing on all cylinders as ETonline discovered upon sitting down with the in-demand actress.

ETonline: What attracted you to Price Check?

Parker Posey: It's about something. It's like an old school movie -- like In the Company of Men or Clockwatchers -- about office politics and where we're at...

By Allen Gardner

The Samurai Trilogy (Criterion) Director Hiroshi Inagaki’s sprawling epic filmed from 1954-56 is an early Japanese Technicolor masterpiece, rivaling the scope of filmmakers like David Lean and Luchino Visconti. Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s greatest actor, stars as real-life swordsman, artist and writer Musashi Miyamoto, following his growth from callow youth to disciplined warrior. The three films: the Oscar winning “Musashi Miyamoto,” “Duel at Ichijoji Temple,” and “Duel at Ganryu Island” are an incredible story of human growth, tender love and sublime, blood-soaked action. Not to be missed. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interviews with translator and historian William Scott Wilson; Trailers. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

The 39 Steps (Criterion) Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 story of spies, conspiracies and sexual tension put him on the map on both sides of the Pond. Robert Donat stars as an innocent thrust into a deadly plot alongside a cool blonde (Madeleine Carroll...

This is a great week for first-run comedies in Austin. I've seen three of these new movies and I would watch them all again -- they all made me laugh. And if those aren't not enough for you, The Cabin in the Woods is still screening in town.

In addition, SXSW 2011 multiple awardwinner and Central Texas-shot film Natural Selection (Debbie's review) returns to Austin this week as part of Austin Film Society's "Best of the Fests" series. Writer/director Robbie Pickering and producer Paul Jensen will attend the Wednesday, May 2 screening at Alamo Drafthouse Village. Get your tickets now via the Afs website.

On Thursday night, Cinema41 screens the 1997 movie Clockwatchers, starring Toni Collette and Parker Posey, at Salvage Vanguard Theater. And the Hayao Miyazaki film Princess Mononoke is playing at Alamo Drafthouse all week long as part of Alamo's Studio Ghibli series.

Movies We've Seen

Bernie -- Austin filmmaker...

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Chicago – Over a decade ago, Jill & Karen Sprecher made waves on the indie scene with “Clockwatchers” and “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing” but then virtually disappeared. They’re back with another arthouse piece, a “Fargo”-esque black comedy called “Thin Ice,” starring Greg Kinnear, Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin, and more. The strong ensemble makes the relatively weak script (as presented…more on that later) easier to take as the film skates over some treacherous rough patches but never falls through.

Mickey Prohaska (Kinnear) is a jerk (and it’s the complete lack of a likable or relatable protagonist that is one of the film’s biggest drawbacks). He’s an insurance salesman who uses lies and deceit to scare people into buying policies they don’t need. And he rips them off whenever possible. In one of the first scenes in the film, he sleeps with a drunk girl at a casino conference,...

In Thin Ice , the new dark comedy from Jill Sprecher ( Clockwatchers ), Greg Kinnear plays Mickey Prohaska, a Wisconsin insurance salesman who thinks he's scored when he's introduced to a crotchety retired farmer named Gorvy Hauer, played by Kinnear's Little Miss Sunshine co-star (and Oscar winner) Alan Arkin. At first, he's just happy selling Gorvy a needless insurance policy but then he discovers the old man has been storing an old violin that may be worth thousands of dollars. The film also stars Lea Thompson as Mickey's estranged wife (and boss) and Billy Crudup as Randy, the volatile and temperamental locksmith who discovers Mickey's plot and decides to cut himself into the scam. The film's distributor Ato Pictures has provided ComingSoon.net with an exclusive clip from the...

Title: Thin Ice Director: Jill Sprecher (‘Thirteen Conversations About One Thing,’ ‘Clockwatchers’) Starring: Greg Kinnear, Bill Crudup and Alan Arkin Con artists are usually portrayed as being ruthless and conniving in films, and aren’t often featured as the main protagonist with whom audiences can relate to. But Mickey Prohaska, the conman in director-co-writer Jill Sprecher’s new crime drama-comedy, ‘Thin Ice,’ is surprisingly both endearing and deceitful. Greg Kinnear was well-cast as the scheming, sympathetic small-town Wisconsin insurance agent, who will do anything to get what he wants, while genuinely caring for those who have positively impacted his life. ‘Thin Ice’ follows Mickey as he’s looking for a way to jump-start...

Ato Pictures has unveiled the trailer for "Thin Ice" crime drama, starring Greg Kinnear, Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin and Lea Thompson. Check it out below. Plot: Mickey Prohaska (Kinnear) is a small-time insurance agent looking for a way to jump-start his business, reunite with his estranged wife (Thompson) and escape the frigid Wisconsin weather. He eventually comes across a lonely retired farmer (Arkin) who is sitting on something much bigger than an insurance commission. But Mickey's attempt to con the old man spins out of control when a nosy locksmith (Crudup) with a volatile temper dramatically ups the stakes. The new movie is directed by Jill Sprecher (Clockwatchers) and is set to hit theaters on February 17th, in limited release. Trailer: If you cannot see the player, click here.

HollywoodNews.com: 2011 Hollywood Film Festival Honors “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Lubezki, Mirrione, and Murakami

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Editor Stephen Mirrione, Production Designer James Murakami and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar will be honored at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, have announced that Academy Award nominated cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki will be honored with the “Hollywood Cinematographer Award,” Oscar-winning editor Stephen Mirrione will be presented with the “Hollywood Editor Award,” Academy Award-nominated production designer James Murakami will receive the “Hollywood Production Designer Award,” and Paramount Pictures’ “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar will receive the “Hollywood Visual Effects Award” at the festival’s Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

The gala ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 24, 2011.

The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu,...

Expect this upcoming Fall season to be a pivotal first for the two-year old Ato Pictures. With Pawel Pawlikowski's The Woman in the Fifth and Dominik Moll's The Monk both expected to make their North American first looks at Telluride/Tiff, the disturb co. will have a Sundance preemed black comedy hitting theatres around the same time. Gist: Formerly going by the title of "The Convincer", Thin Ice reunites Greg Kinnear with Little Miss Sunshine co-star Alan Arkin and this becomes a second outing for Arkin with director Jill Sprecher -- who worked with the veteran actor a decade back on her sophomore film that followed her debut, 1997's Clockwatchers. This pits a financially troubled insurance agent (Kinnear) against a frigid Wisconsin backdrop, and worse yet, the moral dilemma brought about by a valuable violin. Worth Noting: Between feature films, the Sprecher sisters produced television's Big Love and...

Back in March, Deadline broke the story that Ato Pictures was near a deal to acquire Us rights to The Convincer, the Karen Sprecher-directed dark comedy that made its debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The distributor has changed the title to Thin Ice, but has just confirmed the deal. Here's the official announcement: New York, NY (July 19, 2011) – Ato (Art Takes Over) Pictures announced today that it has acquired U.S. theatrical rights to Thin Ice (formerly titled The Convincer) starring Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson, David Harbour and Bob Balaban. Thin Ice is a thriller about an insurance agent (Kinnear) looking for a way to jump-start his business, reunite with his estranged wife (Thompson) and escape the frigid Wisconsin weather. This self-proclaimed master of duplicity believes that salesmanship is all about selling a story — all he needs is a sucker willing to buy it. He...

Exclusive: The impressive volume of distribution deals for 2011 Sundance Film Festival fare is about to expand again. I'm told that Ato Pictures is wrapping up a deal for Us rights to The Convincer, the Karen Sprecher-directed dark comedy that stars Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Billy Crudup. It's Fargo-style caper-gone-awry tale in which a conniving insurance salesman (Kinnear) thinks he has found a way to fortify his bank account and get his wife back. He sets out to scam a retired farmer (Arkin) out of a rare violin worth $25,000. A lot goes wrong and blood and dead bodies ensue. Produced by Werc Werk Works, the film was scripted by the director and her sister Jill, who also did Clockwatchers together. CAA is repping the film.  Ato, which was hatched by Johnathan Dorfman, Temple Fennell and musician Dave Matthews, distributed George Hickenlooper's final film Casino Jack and recently acquired The Woman in the Fifth.

Reviewed by Jeremy Mathews

(from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival)

Directed by: Jill Sprecher

Written by: Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson and Bob Balaban

There’s no son of a bitch quite like Mickey Prohaska. The insurance salesman played by Greg Kinnear in “The Convincer” lies constantly, treats everyone like dirt and never passes up a chance to screw someone over. When the random drunk woman he sleeps with during a convention robs his room, he not only hides what happens but belittles the hotel manager and accuses the housekeeping staff of theft. So he isn’t a character who evokes much sympathy when his scruple-less little scheme goes terribly wrong. It’s no less than he deserves.

All it takes to push Mickey to do something wrong is for an opportunity to present itself. The film is structured like a domino course,...

Reviewed by Jeremy Mathews

(from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival)

Directed by: Jill Sprecher

Written by: Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson and Bob Balaban

There’s no son of a bitch quite like Mickey Prohaska. The insurance salesman played by Greg Kinnear in “The Convincer” lies constantly, treats everyone like dirt and never passes up a chance to screw someone over. When the random drunk woman he sleeps with during a convention robs his room, he not only hides what happens but belittles the hotel manager and accuses the housekeeping staff of theft. So he isn’t a character who evokes much sympathy when his scruple-less little scheme goes terribly wrong. It’s no less than he deserves.

All it takes to push Mickey to do something wrong is for an opportunity to present itself. The film is structured like a domino course,...

By Andre Chautard

(Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)

Can Sundance 2011 match last year’s stellar lineup, which included the world premieres of “The Kids Are All Right,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Catfish,” “Blue Valentine,” “Restrepo,” “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop”? It’s a tall order, but festival director John Cooper and programming director Trevor Groth — both long-timers who are in their second year in the fest’s top two spots — are thrilled about the quality of this year’s slate.

Cooper and Groth say the U.S. Documentary Competition is particularly strong this time, and a separate Documentary Premieres section is debuting this year to underscore the increasing profile and popularity of the genre in independent filmmaking.

Here, they talk about some of the forthcoming fest’s most buzzworthy titles and potential breakout stars, and offer sage advice and insider info for all the film lovers making the...

With Sundance having announced their 2011 feature film line up, images for the selected films have begun to be released – case in point new stills from Terri and The Convincer (previously covered here). Terri, starring newcomer Jacob Wysocki and John C. Reilly (Cyrus), focuses on a lonely high school outcast (Wysocki) who slowly comes into his own. Stills from the film include director Azazel Jacobs talking with one of his young actors behind the scenes and an image of Reilly and Wysocki having what appears to be a stern conversation within the film. It’s hard to gauge from the stills whether Reilly will be going super serious (alla Magnolia) or outlandishly silly (see any of the Adam McKay films) or painfully funny (see Cyrus). Perhaps the “not knowing” is indicative of Reilly’s versatility. There are very few actors with the capability to pull of such opposite extremes of emotion...

Following yesterday's announcement of the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions, the Sundance Film Festival has unveiled the second part of their lineup, which includes the more starry-eyed Premieres section, the best-of-fests Spotlight section, the sure-to-be-culty Park City at Midnight section, the low-budget Next section, and the more experimental New Frontier section (an extension of New Frontier Program, the collection of video art installations which has already been noted here for playing James Franco's dramatic multimedia examination of "Three's Company.")

In addition to the return of filmmakers like "Chuck & Buck"'s Miguel Arteta, "Clockwatchers" director Jill Sprecher, Kevin Smith and "The Station Agent"'s Thomas McCarthy to Park City, the festival will also welcome less frequent or first-time Sundance attendees such as Hollywood types Al Pacino ("Son of No One") and Tobey Maguire ("The Details") and mumblecore alums Joe Swanberg ("Uncle Kent," which announced it's been...

Ray Romano’s Joe is going to get really lucky when the new season of Men of a Certain Age debuts on TNT Dec. 6. EW has learned that the star’s latest galpal will be played by Alanna Ubach, best known for her role as a sorority sister/best friend in the Legally Blonde franchise and for playing Thomas Jane’s sexy neighbor Yael Koontz on HBO’s Hung.

She’ll play the role of Michelle in five episodes of Men, which also stars Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula. “During the last season, I happened to meet Ray at a...

Not a great title. We'll start there. Jill and Karen Sprecher, whose previous writing credits consist of Thirteen Conversations About One Thing and Clockwatchers, have co-written the script for The Convincer, which Jill Sprecher will direct. The film, according to Variety, "follows a desperate insurance salesman whose scheme to get a hold of a rare violin leads to unforeseen consequences."

It's either going to be one of those grim indie pictures, or one of those quirky indie pictures. I don't see it going any other way, although I am basing my assumption on a single sentence. That said, there is one thing (well, three things I suppose) that makes me a lot more intrigued -- the cast. Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup are set to star, and that is a hell of a lineup right there. It's great to see all of them, actually. Kinnear is always great,...

Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Billy Crudup will star in the indie crime drama "The Convincer."According to Variety, shooting begins Feb. 8 in Minneapolis.Jill Sprecher will be directing from a script she co-wrote with her sister Karen Sprecher. Mary Frances Budig, Christine Walker and Elizabeth Redleaf are producing for Werc Werk Works.The story follows a down-on-his-luck insurance salesman whose scheme to steal a rare violin unravels.Sprecher's directing credits include 1997.s "Clockwatchers" and 2001.s "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," which were both co-written by Karen Sprecher. "Clockwatchers" starred Toni Collette, Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow while "Conversations" starred Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin and John Turturro.

It's relatively quiet in Hollywood this morning, as entertainment outlets everywhere prep themselves to read, absorb and comment on the soon-to-be-announced Oscar nominations. There's some news though, including this kickass casting announcement for an upcoming indie crime drama.

Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin and Greg Kinnear are all signed on for "The Convincer," Variety reports. Shooting will commence on February 8 in "the Minneapolis area." The movie comes from director Jill Sprecher, who co-wrote the script with her sister Karen.

The movie, which is currently listed on IMDb for a 2011 release, follows a salesman on the hunt for a rare violin. His search isn't as simple as it sounds however, and it leads him to some unexpected places. There's no word on the individual roles landed, but we can presume that one of the three new cast members will emerge as the star.

Sprecher's previous directing credits include "Clockwatchers" and "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing,...

Though I have no idea on what The Convincer is about, the indie crime drama has already captured my attention by casting Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Billy Crudup.

Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Billy Crudup for The Convincer

Directed by Jill Sprecher off a script she co-wrote with Karen Sprecher, The Convincer follows a desperate insurance salesman whose scheme to get a hold of a rare violin leads to unforeseen consequences. Jill Sprecher's helming credits include Clockwatchers and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, which were both co-written by Karen Sprecher.

THR reports that Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup have signed on to star in the crime drama The Convincer. Written by Jill and Karen Sprecher and directed by Jill Sprecher, the film is about “a desperate insurance salesman who gets his hands on a rare violin.” I wonder if its frustrating for writers to see a logline like this appear and think, “It’s really much better than that! We didn’t just think of an attitude, a profession, and an item and run from there!”

The Sprechers’ previous works include Clockwatchers and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing. Kinnear will next be seen in Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone; Arkin will appear next in Todd Phillips’ Due Date; and you can catch Billy Crudup this August co-starring alongside Julia Roberts, James Franco, and Javier Bardem in Eat, Pray, Love.

Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Billy Crudup have signed to crime drama "The Convincer," written by Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher; Jill Sprecher directs.

The production, about a desperate insurance salesman who gets his hands on a rare violin, beings filming Monday around the Twin Cities, Minn.

Mary Frances Budig, Christine Walker and Elizabeth Redleaf are producing for the indie production and finance company Werc Werk Works.

Jill Sprecher's credits include "Clockwatchers" and "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," which were both co-written with Karen Sprecher.