Though certain corners of culture-- OK, maybe just my corner of culture-- are totally over FOX's bubbly megabit Glee, there's one breakout star from the show who pretty much nobody can deny: Chris Colfer. Cast just out of high school as the flamboyant, talented Kurt on the show, Colfer has already been nominated for an Emmy for his role on the show, and is possibly the youngest actor to find so much success while also being openly gay. He hasn't tried to parlay the Glee fame into an outside career just yet-- the way they have those kids on the summer tours, it's amazing they have time to even brush their teeth-- but that won't last long. As reported back in December, he will star in a comedy based on his own screenplay Struck By Lightning, which starts shooting in July once he's finally set free by Glee.
With production starting in just a few weeks, it's finally time to shore up the cast that will surround Colfer in his feature acting debut. According to Variety Allison Janney has been cast to play Colfer's character's mom, and they've also happened upon some plot details about the previously secretive project. In the opening scene Colfer's character is struck by lightning and killed-- that title speaks the truth! The rest of the film is told in flashbacks, watching the character blackmail his classmates into contributing to his literary magazine. I'm not entirely sure how that turns into a workable story, or what we're supposed to invest in a character we know is dead the whole time, but petty concerns like a logical plot usually don't matter too much in teen comedies. Plus, the film is directed by Brian Dannelly, who made a pretty damn good teen comedy with 2004's Saved. With Colfer up for his second Emmy nomination this fall, he's exactly the kind of star needed to carry a movie like this-- and having backup like Janney sure doesn't hurt.
