Director Todd Phillips is finishing up his fall comedy Due Date and planning to shoot The Hangover 2 last this year, but apparently that's not keeping him busy enough. Deadline Hollywood reports that in June Phillips plans to start production on Project X, a high-concept comedy to be directed by newbie Nima Nourizadeh, and bearing a budget of a stunning $12 million.

It's been a while since I was shocked by a budget because it was so low, and Deadline points out that they can't think of the last time Warner Bros. greenlit a movie for so little money. Though the plot of Project X is being kept totally under wraps, apparently the plan is to assemble a college-aged cast of total unknowns through a nationwide casting call. They won't even be handing out full scripts to the auditioners-- just watermarked sections-- and apparently the idea is to find people who don't even have screen credits to their names. Well, I guess that explains how they're keeping the budget so low.

God only knows how this project will work out as an actual movie-- can non-professionals actually manage to be funny on film?-- but it's an interesting tactic for Phillips, who clearly seems to be concerned that between the two Hangovers and the similarly toned buddy film Due Date, he'd burn himself out on big star-driven comedies. Taking a page from the Steven Soderbergh manual, he's promising a big sequel to the studio only if they'll let him make his secret tiny project first. Well-played, Phillips. Now just make the movie as brilliant as your plan suggests.