Oscarcast Team Of Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Adam Shankman Plot Pic

EXCLUSIVE: New Line Cinema is in early talks to acquire a pitch for a comedy vehicle that would re-team 2010 Oscarcast hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin with Adam Shankman, who will direct and who produced the Oscars that year. This is all pretty early stuff — they haven’t closed the deal or even hired a writer — but the principals have all sparked to the idea of moving forward on a comedy that has a bit of Trading Places meets Grumpy Old Men. The comedy will be produced by Shankman and his Offspring Entertainment partner Jennifer Gibgot. Martin and Baldwin previously teamed in It’s Complicated, playing dueling paramours for the affection of Meryl Streep. The idea for the project sprang from Martin appearing with Baldwin in the opening segment of Saturday Night Live, when Baldwin broke Martin’s hosting record, and Shankman and Gibgot thought they’d make a good screen pairing. Baldwin just teamed with them on Rock Of Ages, and though he seemed shaky about taking part for some personal reasons at one point, I’m told he had a good time on the film. We don’t see a lot of comedy tandems anymore, and I think these guys in a comedy has potential. Martin is repped by WME, Baldwin by CAA and Shankman at UTA.