Does anyone want to shadow direct Elaine May's final feature?

Sebastian Stan recently confirmed that he was attached to star in Crackpot, but they need a shadow director

By Drew Gillis  |  October 17, 2024 | 9:29am
Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Writers Guild of America, West
Film News Elaine May
Does anyone want to shadow direct Elaine May's final feature?

Do you remember, in Chimp Crazy, how the real director Eric Goode wasn’t trusted by his subjects because he made Tiger King, so they had to have Dwayne Cunningham step in as a proxy director to get the film made? Well, there is a similar yet extremely different situation apparently underfoot with director Elaine May’s upcoming fifth and final film, Crackpot. But instead of trying to convince eccentric wild animal owners in rural Missouri, there is a group of suits that needs some convincing. 

This is according to Sebastian Stan, who revealed on The Big Picture podcast (via The Film Stage) that not only is he now attached to star in the film beside Dakota Johnson, but the film is looking for a shadow director to helm the production. “I have this thing, I don’t know if it’ll ever get going. I have this thing that Elaine May was going to direct. It was going to be her last film and her first film since Ishtar. It’s this crazy, kooky comedy,” the actor said on the podcast. “It’s supposed to be with Dakota Johnson and myself. We’ve been trying to find a shadow director for Elaine May for the insurance company. So if anybody out there is hearing this and you want to fucking shadow Elaine May for her last film, let’s go do it!” 

This seems to have less to do with the commercial viability of the project (Ishtar is one of the most infamous flops of the 20th century) and more with the director’s advanced age. May is 92, and TFS notes that a similar situation happened on Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion in 2006, when Paul Thomas Anderson stepped in as insurance director. For May’s part, she’s already had one volunteer since Stan went public with his comments; on Twitter/X, I Saw The TV Glow director Jane Schoenbrun said “I immediately reached out lol”. Sounds potentially promising, but they quickly added: “But the question now becomes—who will insure me.” We’ll put Schoenbrun down as a “maybe” for now. 

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