Payne’s The Descendants is a Go with Judy Greer Playing Girlfriend in a Coma

A good 6 weeks delayed from the tentative January start date, Alexander Payne’s The Descendants will finally begin filming, setting up shop today, and the entire rest of the cast besides the already named George Clooney have been named. Judy Greer, who has just been named to the Duplass bros. new film Jeff Who Lives at Home, will play (in some sequences) the wife in a coma role. Other actors filling the bill include Matthew Lillard playing the “wife’s lover”, we find Beau Bridges and Robert Forster in supporting roles, and Shailene Woodley, Mary Birdsong, Nick Krause and Amara Miller.

Based on the Kaui Hart Hemmings novel, this is set in Hawaii, the unconventional family drama tells the story of a newly widowed father (Clooney) — the descendant of landowners and one of the richest men on Oahu — who takes off with his two rebellious daughters to track down his wife’s lover on the island of Kauai.

I’m not sure what are Fox Searchlight’s plans for the picture in terms of a release. Unlike last year, where Crazy Heart became the last minute option, right now they have tons of items in the pipeline including the Duplass bros. film Cyrus, which has a confirmed date and great buzz from both Sundance and SXSW, they have non-dated items such as John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Miguel Arteta’s Cedar Rapids and Oscar bait, Betty Anne Waters. At least three of these pics could end up as part of next year’s slate. You get a sense that the second portion of 2010 and parts of 2011 will be vintage years for the distributor.