MTV Movies Blog › Jay Roach

While you were all warm and snuggly on this chilly first weekend of December, some magic was happening in Hollywood. Comedic magic, that is. Jay Roach, director of the wonderful "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and the not-so-wonderful "Dinner for Schmucks" (and a couple films in between) has managed to land Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as the leads in his next film, a political comedy that will follow two presidential nominees and will be released to coincide with the 2012 presidential election.

The pitch, which was purchased by Warner Bros. on Sunday according to Deadline, will be written by "The Other Guys" co-writer Chris Henchy and "Eastbound & Down" writer Shawn Harwell. Let's just hope the comedy landscape doesn't change too much over the next two years, because these guys are pretty much on top right now for their work. Read more...

Tags Chris Henchy, Eastbound & Down, Jay Roach, Shawn Harwell, will ferrell, zach galifianakis

People are buzzing about "Dinner for Schmucks" right now after yesterday's trailer release. MTV's Larry Carroll recently sat down for a chat with the movie's director, Jay Roach, and he had a lot to say about the movie's plot and the talented actors responsible for breathing life into it. He also discusses Zach Galifianakis and his mind control powers. That's right, Zach G is superhuman. Hear Roach in his own words in the video below then check out the full report on MTV.com.

Tags Dinners for Schmucks, Jay Roach, Video

This December, the family Focker returns to big screens after a few years away. Info has been slowly dribbling out about "Little Fockers" over the past bunch of months, but its mostly been casting. Very little in the way of plot details. That all changed at ShoWest, when MTV's Larry Carroll spoke with producer (and director of the first two movies) Jay Roach.

"It's Owen Wilson coming back with a new passion for Ben [Stiller's] wife, Teri Polo," Roach said of the "Little Fockers" story. "And of course it's hidden and it's all under the surface, but it causes a lot of new wrinkles in the relationship between all of them." Read more...

Tags ben stiller, Jay Roach, Little Fockers, owen wilson, robert de niro

One of my favorite underrated movies of the last decade is "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It wasn't a bomb, but it only just made back its budget at the box office and has floundered a bit in its home video afterlife. A real shame when you consider that "Guide," which was a spiritually (if not 100% textually) sound adaptation of the book, is only the first in a series by the late author, Douglas Adams. Speaking last week at ShoWest to Jay Roach, who produced and worked with Adams on the script for the movie, MTV's Larry Carroll asked if we'll ever see "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" and the rest of the series adapted for film.

"I don't know if they'd ever bring that back," Roach said, "but I loved working with those guys Garth [Jennings] and Nick [Goldsmith], who directed it." (Editor's note: IMDb lists only Jennings as the director, and Goldsmith as a producer.) Read more...

Tags Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Jay Roach, Video

Last week at ShoWest in Las Vegas, filmmaker Jay Roach was honored as the Comedy Director of the Decade. He's probably known best these days as the director of "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers" (and the producer of the coming third movie in that series), but his formative work as a comedy director comes from the three "Austin Powers" movies. MTV's Larry Carroll sat down with Roach to talk about the award, and he managed to sneak in a few questions about the fourth "Austin Powers" movie.

"[Star Mike Myers is] working on ideas for it, people are definitely talking about it and I'm all good for it," Roach said matter-of-factly. "I love those characters." Read more...

Tags Austin-Powers, Jay Roach, Video

One of the hot comedies to look forward to next summer is "Dinner for Shmucks," the latest from "Meet the Parents" director Jay Roach. In today's episode of "Behind the Screen," stars Steve Carell and Paul Rudd took MTV's Josh Horowitz behind the scenes for a look at how things are coming along. I could tell you what the movie's about, but why don't we let Carell and Rudd do that for me...

Tags Dinner for Shmucks, Jay Roach, paul rudd, steve carell, Video