There are premises and then there are premises. In a Hollywood assailed on all sides from franchise properties, summer tentpoles, and cranked-out sequels creatively stemming from the idea that box office grosses equal public demand, it’s always refreshing to catch a whiff of pure, uncut originality, especially when the film in question casts Canadian man-slab Ryan Reynolds as a bathtub factory employee who can talk to animals. That’s at least three ideas—compared to the average movie’s zero—right there.
Deadline reports that Reynolds has been pegged to star in The Voices, a psychological thriller helmed by Persepolis writer and co-director Marjane Satrapi, with a screenplay by Paranormal Activity 2 co-writer Michael R. Perry. According to the synopsis (which is too unruly and hilarious to bother re-synopsizing), Reynolds would play "Jerry Hickfang, a lovable but strange bathtub factory worker who yearns for the attention of a woman in accounting. When their relationship takes a sudden murderous turn, Jerry’s evil talking cat and benevolent talking dog lead him down a fantastical path that ultimately brings him to salvation.” For our money, the idea of the Human Torso dressing down his orthodox, hunky fireman looks to play “loveable but strange” (and, presumably, shirtless), then spend the length of movie likely murdering an accountant and seeking penitence through his Ying/Yang house pets seems like a safe awards season bet. What are the early Vegas odds on how many statuettes get dented when the Academy fires a pillowcase full of Oscars straight at Reynold’s chiseled trunk?