“Little Miss Sunshine” Team Returns for New Project

A dope-fiend grandfather, Abigail Breslin’s wholly inappropriate “Superfreak” dance, that ethereal soundtrack by DeVotchKa, Steve Carrell as a gay, suicidal Proust scholar, and that honking yellow VW bus.

These are just a few of the highlights from “Little Miss Sunshine”, the 2006 road trip indie that swept the Sundance Film Festival and then the world. Film lovers will be glad to learn that the team behind the 2006 indie smash “Little Miss Sunshine” are reuniting to for “He Loves Me.”

This coming comedy will follow a young writer struggling with writers block who attempts to write the woman of his dreams, only to find that he has somehow willed her into existence.

The new film is set to star Paul Dano who played the surly, voluntary mute teenager Dwayne from “Little Miss Sunshine”. Penned by his real-life girlfriend Zoe Kazan, who appeared in “It’s Complicated” and “Revolutionary Road”, “He Loves Me” will be directed by “Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

Normally working on commercials for high-profile clientele like HP, GAP, Target, and Apple, this will be the first film the husband-wife duo will have directed since 2005. They will be joined by producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, another pair of “Sunshine” alumni.

And it was announced last week that yet another “Little Miss Sunshine” collaborator will be working on “He Loves Me.” Fox Searchlight, a division of 20^th Century Fox is in talks to release and distribute the film. Fox Searchlight was the distributor for “Little Miss Sunshine” as well as other successful indie movies like Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” Jason Reitman’s “Juno,” and Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”

But producer Albert Berger says that despite the commonalities between the two projects, “He Loves Me” will be very different from “Little Miss Sunshine.” In an interview with the L.A. Times Blog, he says “The plot couldn’t be more different than ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ But in terms of a movie with comedy, with heart and with strong characters, I think it’s very similar.”

Although fans of “Sunshine” do have one thing to look forward to; as the frustrated writer who inexplicably summons his dream woman, Paul Dano will definitely be reprising his role as the tortured introvert. Hopefully we’ll see more of the cast from “Little Miss Sunshine,” for a real reunion.