Jackie Weaver, who earned one of her two Academy Award nominations for her work in 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, is the first announced actor to join Jack Black in the cast of The Polka King.
There is no word yet as to whom Weaver will be playing. Black is starring in the film as the real life polka band leader Jan Lewan, who parleyed his fame into a Ponzi scheme that bilked his fans out of millions. The biopic will be an adaptation of the 2009 documentary The Man Who Would Be Polka King from directors Joshua Brown and John Mikulak.
Lewan, a Polish immigrant, found fame as a polka band leader in northeastern Pennsylvania in the 1980s. As his fame grew, he began organizing tours to his home country, still under Communist control at the time. In time, he turned to selling “shares” in his his business to keep it afloat, knowing that he would never be able to pay off the suspiciously high rate of return that he guaranteed on them. His business soon began to collapse after an accusation of vote tampering at the Mrs. Pennsylvania pageant his wife was competing in.
When announced last March, filming was expected to start in July. If that schedule is still solid, expect to see a number of casting announcements coming out in the ext couple of weeks.
Via Hollywood Reporter.
