Paladin Releases Malcolm Mowbray Film, 'Meeting Spencer'

Paladin will release Malcolm Mowbray's new comedy, 'Meeting Spencer', starring renowned character actor Jeffrey Tambor this spring, announced company president Mark Urman. Produced by George Braunstein, the film is a sophisticated farce set in the world of theater and represents a rare starring role for Tambor, best known-and-loved as the dad in the acclaimed television series, 'Arrested Development,' and for key supporting roles in a number of motion pictures including the recent smash, 'The Hangover.' The film will open in New York on April 8, not long after Tambor assumes one of the two leading roles in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES alongside the legendary show's co-creator Harvey Fierstein.

Directed by Mowbray, whose 'A Private Function,' starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith, is widely considered one of the classic British comedies of the ‘80s, 'Meeting Spencer' all takes place in one night, in the fabled Theater Row hangout Frankie & Johnnie's (recreated on a Hollywood sound stage), and concerns the increasingly frantic efforts of a once-famous stage director to raise financing for a production he hopes will be his comeback. Based on an original screenplay by Andrew Kole, Andrew Delaplane, and Scott Kasdin, the film is an affectionate homage to such classic screwball comedies as 'Room Service' and 'Twentieth Century,' in which a motley group of flamboyant theater denizens plot and scheme, both against and with one another, in their pursuit of glory on "the great white way." Melinda McGraw ('Mad Men') and Jesse Plemons ('Friday Night Lights', the upcoming 'Battleship') head the large supporting cast.

Now in its second year, Paladin's most recent release was the Russian crime thriller, 'Alien Girl.' Next up for the company is 'I Am,' the first non-fiction film by Hollywood powerhouse Tom Shadyac, which begins its national rollout on February 18th. Also on the Paladin slate are "Footprints," a Hollywood fable written and directed by Steven Peros, and 'A Love Affair of Sorts,' the directorial debut of producer David Guy Levy, whose most recent credit, 'Terri,' was just unveiled in competition at Sundance 2011.