Jerry Lewis to star in a new drama, with the crying and the grieving and the oh how it hurts me

Though Jerry Lewis has not acted on the big screen since 1995’s Funny Bones—content to let occasional cartoon voiceovers, his (formerly) annual telethon, and predicting humanity’s encroaching dark night of the soul be the sum total of his public appearances—the 86-year-old comedian finally believes its time for another Jerry Lewis movie, and not just in the sense of handing all of them over to another actor to remake for a cut of the royalties. Deadline reports that Lewis will star in the indie feature Max Rose, playing a recently widowed jazz pianist who discovers that his entire 50-year marriage may have been a total sham. Wasting no time, the film began shooting the day after it was announced, with Lewis leading a cast that includes Kevin Pollak, Claire Bloom, and fellow comedy-legend-who’s-still-alive Mort Sahl playing some of the “menagerie of characters from a bygone era” Lewis meets on his journey of self-discovery—characters who are not, presumably, all played by Jerry Lewis in various wigs and silly hats instead, as this movie appears to be a rather serious and sad affair. Still, hopefully by the end of it all, Jerry Lewis confirms his dead wife was actually a nice lady.