The Wackness' Jonathan Levine replaces Nicole Holofcener as director of James McAvoy/Seth Rogen cancer comedy

According to Hollywood Reporter (where I will be stealing, er, I mean, borrowing many of my Newswire items now that those fuckers over at Variety have insitituted a paywall) the untitled James McAvoy/Seth Rogen cancer comedy has received a new director in Jonathan Levine, best known as the man behind The Wackness. Levine replaces Friends With Money auteur Nicole Holofcener, who apparently left due to location differences.

The film is based on the experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser, who contracted cancer in his mid-twenties and is successfully battling the disease. McAvoy will play a 25-year-old diagnosed with cancer who, I dunno, learns life lessons or some such shit. Between Funny People and this new project, Rogen apparently is all about projects involving terrible illnesses. In addition to co-starring in the film alongside Up In The Air's Anna Kendrick, Rogen will also produce along with partner Evan Goldberg and Ben Karlin, longtime Daily Show/Colbert Report guru and ex-editor of a scruffy satirical rag called The Onion. Fourteen years ago Karlin gave a big break to a goofy kid six months out a group home. That young man's name? Me. In appreciation I am officially upgrading expectations for this not-at-all-dicey-sounding project. We remain, uncharacteristically, wildly optimistic.