George Lopez has signed star in Aloha Santa, set to begin production in Maui in December. Lopez will play Chris Cringle, the lazy, immature adopted son of Santa who inherits the Santa Claus role when his father dies. Lacking confidence in his role, he ends up crash-landing in Hawaii when he takes the sleigh out for a test drive days before Christmas. Now he must find a way home in time to make the annual gift deliveries.
Billed as Hawaii's first Christmas movie, it's directed by Jonathan Yudis (Pocahontas 2), who co-wrote with Adam "Tex" Davis and Mike Davis. Yudis, Eric Gilliom and Dominique Telson are producing, and it's executive produced by JC Spink (The Hangover), Jamie Foxx (Annie), Mark Bakshi (World War Z), Gato Scatena (It's So Easy And Other Lies) and Jordan Rosner (Landmine Goes Click). Lopez is repped by UTA and 3 Arts Entertainment.
Hope Davis has joined the romantic comedy Claire, the upcoming remake of Eric Rohmer's Le Beau Mariage. She joins Hunger Games' Jena Malone and Girls' Alex Karpovsky in the story of an eccentric young woman (Malone) who, fed up with her married lover, decides she ought to get married herself and sets her sights on her best friend's cousin (Karpovsky), a man she barely knows.
The film is directed by first time feature director Dori Oskowitz, from a script by Juan Iglesias and Jonathan Saba. Oskowitz is known for creating music videos for artists such as Jack White, Passion Pit, Lenny Kravitz and Cee-Lo, and for the Vice Media documentary Blackout. Oskowitz soon will be directing Molly, an independent film set in Dallas at the beginning of the rave scene when ecstasy still was legal. Davis next will star in American Crime from John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years A Slave. She's repped by UTA and managed by Perri Kipperman of Kipperman Management.