Karina on SpoutBlog

It’s been almost a year since we heard word on Todd Solondz’s long awaited follow-up to Palindromes. The last we heard, the project was still called Life During Wartime, and it was pitched as a sort-of sequel to Solondz’s two most popular films. Paul “Pee Wee” Ruebens confirmed at the time that the script involved “characters from Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness whose paths converge. It’s all different people playing the same roles [from] those movies.” With little else to go on, we tried to guess which Solondzverse character would be assigned to Ruebens, and concluded: “Given Reubens’ personal history, the Dylan Baker character is probably the most obvious, but I think the Jon Lovitz character might be more interesting.”

There’s finally new news about the project today, and it looks like we guessed right!

On indieWIRE and on his blog, Peter Knegt confirms that Life During Wartime (which may no longer be called that — IMDb has it listed as Untitled Todd Solondz Project) has overcome the financing troubles alluded to by Ruebens in January, thanks to an influx of cash from new production company Werc Werk Works. In fact, shooting is apparently underway as we speak in Puerto Rico.

Now, for the casting candy: according to Knegt’s blog, Reubens, as we hoped, is playing Andy, the character originated by Jon Lovitz in Happiness. Ciarin Hinds, Plainview’s right hand man in There Will Be Blood, has been cast as Bill, the father-turned-pedophile played by Dylan Baker in the first film. British actress Shirley Henderson will take over for Jane Adams as Joy, and in maybe the most explosive bit of re-casting, Michael Kenneth Williams, AKA Omar from The Wire, is stepping into the part of Allen, the phone breather originally played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Knegt also reports that Paris Hilton has been cast, but there’s no indication as to what (if any) character from Happiness she plays.

So: clink the links above for more info, and join us in mildly bewildered, um, happiness.