Danny Glover, Matt Dillon, Danny Pudi and Michelle Mylett joined the cast of American Dreamer, the Paul Dektor-directed dark comedy that has just gotten underway in Vancouver. The actors join Peter Dinklage, Shirley MacLaine and Kim Quinn on the Ted Melfi scripted film. Dinklage, David Ginsberg, Quinn, Melfi and Dektor are producing along with Flying Firebird.
Pic is told in a similar tone as Melfi’s St. Vincent and is based on a true story segment from the This American Life podcast. The film follows Dr. Phil Loder (Dinklage), a low-level, adjunct professor of economics at Harvard, whose grand dream of owning a home is tragically out of reach…until an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes his way when a lonely, childless, near-death widow (MacLaine) offers Phil her sprawling estate for pennies. But Phil quickly learns the deal is too good to be true.
Glover will play a private investigator tasked with tailing MacLaine’s daughter, who intends to evict the hapless Dinklage from her mother’s property. Dillon plays Dinklage’s real estate agent and reluctant companion, as he navigates the mismanaged real estate transaction. Pudi plays the Dean of Economics at Brockton University and Dinklage’s boss, who is forced to suspend Dinklage upon learning of an affair he had with a graduate student (Mylett).