"Office" tyrant sets sights on renaissance fairs

[Brian Damage]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Rainn Wilson, who plays the tyrannical Dwight on NBC's "The Office," will star in a comedy feature set in a Renaissance fair.

Wilson is co-writing "Renaissance Men" with fellow actor Matt Ross, and will produce with "Austin Powers" director Jay Roach. Universal Pictures will distribute.

The story follows two down-and-out community theater actors who think they've accidentally killed a co-star. In a panic, they go on the lam and hide out in a Renaissance fair.

"It's a bit like 'We're No Angels,' only funny, and in a Renaissance fair," Wilson said.

Wilson has long been fascinated by "Ren fairs," attending them with his family during his teenage years, when he also played "Dungeons and Dragons" and fought with broomsticks and garbage-can lids in his backyard.

Wilson and Ross attended the same drama classes at the University of Washington, where Ross also took up fencing and swordfighting.

Both eventually made their way south to Hollywood, where after bit parts in movies like "Almost Famous" and TV shows Wilson found success as apparatchik Dwight Schrute on "Office." Ross has appeared in such movies as "American Psycho" and "The Aviator" and is now gaining attention for his work on HBO's "Big Love," where he plays the villainous Alby Grant.

The friends have harbored the idea of a comedy set in a Ren fair for a long time, but it was only during a general meeting with Roach that Wilson brought it up. Roach loved the idea, and after Wilson and Ross honed the story, the trio took it to Universal, where Roach is based.

"(Renaissance fairs) are fascinating," Wilson said. "Everyone has been to one, but no one really knows what makes them tick. The great thing about them is how seriously people take their duties at the fair or as their characters, whether they are doing swordfights or selling giant turkey legs. And I think that the best comedy comes from people taking ridiculous circumstances extremely seriously."

Wilson is also writing "Bonzai Shadowhands," a ninja comedy that Jason Reitman ("Thank You For Smoking") will direct for Fox Searchlight. Like that project, this one will feature characters that are failures, something that is a Wilson trademark.

"I will always write only loserish kind of characters," he said. "I don't think I have a handle on winners."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter