Jesse Eisenberg might have put one foot in mainstream films such as The Social Network and upcoming animated film Rio, but the actor’s other foot is firmly planted in indie world roles as Roger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale and Adventureland. The actor has penciled in a quickie before the holidays called Free Samples, and will appear alongside with Jess Weixler, Jason Ritter, Tippi Hedren, Hallie Pfeiffer, Keir O’Donnell, Jocelyn Donahue and Matt Walsh in a dramedy directed by Jay Gammill. Film Harvest’s McKelheer and Eben Kostbar are producing.
Gist: Scripted by Jim Beggarly, Weixler stars a a law school drop-out who fills in as a server as a friend’s food truck, where she doles out free samples of ice cream. The job tests her patience, and while she figures out what to do with her life, she finds herself being courted by a young man (Eisenberg) whom she barely remembers from the night before.
Worth Noting: Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Ritter both toplined Fred Durst’s The Education of Charlie Banks.
Do We Care?: You’ve got yourself a fine cast of Sundancers, a shot-in-Los Angeles setting and a first time feature-length filmmaker at the realms. Could be a great indie Generation Y cocktail or come across dead-end job The Good Girl-like – which I recently saw for a second time and thought it aged horribly.
Update: We just found out that Reed Morano (cinematographer on Frozen River and upcoming films: Victoria Mahoney’s Yelling to the Sky, Elgin James’ Little Birds and So Yong Kim’s For Ellen) and among our American New Wave 25 list is the DP for this one. So we’re definitely keeping an eye out.
