Clooney is Next of Kin in Payne’s ‘Descendants’

George Clooney might be joining the ranks of Paul Giamatti, Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon as he is currently looking to topline The Descendants for Alexander Payne. If production does indeed begin in February, we could see Clooney in a Payne-branded comedy by year’s end. The project was set into motion by Fox Searchlight in 2007. 

Scripted by Blacklist regulars Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, this is based on the Kaui Hart Hemmings novel, set in Hawaii, the unconventional family drama tells the story of a newly widowed father — 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.

There’ll be plenty of casting to do before the holidays begin. We need a pair of daughters aged 17 and 10 and who can deliver some lip service much like Anna Kendrick did with Clooney in Up in the Air. The film also needs a girlfriend in a coma and a sun-bleached supporting male actor who probably becomes involved in the film’s story-line around or past the midway point.