Cameron Crowe signs to direct Zoo

I love Cameron Crowe. And after making movies like SAY ANYTHING, ALMOST FAMOUS and JERRY MAGUIRE, you should too. Sadly though, Hollywood has a short memory and Crowe’s last two films were VANILLA SKY and ELIZABETHTOWN, two movies that were disappointments both critically and commercially. Crowe hasn’t made a movie since 2005 and though he came close with DEEP TIKI, a script he wrote for Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon last year, the project wound up falling apart. But now Crowe has sealed a deal to write and direct his first film since ELIZABETHTOWN.

Crowe will direct WE BOUGHT A ZOO, a film based on the memoirs of Benjamin Mee. The film follows a man and his family who buy a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside with hopes of refurbishing it. While that may seem something more family-friendly than Crowe has ever attempted in the past, it does have an emotional core as Mee struggles to deal with the zoo and his wife, who is dying from glioblastoma.

The original script was written by Aline Brosh McKenna but Crowe did a complete rewrite once he signed on to the film (unclear if McKenna will still get a writing credit). The film already has a December 23, 2011 release date and Fox is currently searching for an A-list actor to star as Mee in the film. (I know it’ll never happen but this is the kind of movie I’d love to see Johnny Depp make…)