News

Jay Roach Producing Pakistani Drama

Jay Roach, perhaps best known for directing the box office hit Meet the Parents and its successful sequel Meet the Fockers, is keeping busy these days. Roach is producing a feature film about Pakistani rape victim Mukhtar Mai, who went on to engage in a messy legal battle with the justice system over the crime that was committed against her. City of God co-director Katia Lind will write and direct the as-yet untitled film.

Roach will produce via his Everyman Pictures company. Mai fought back against a council of tribal elders who had her gang-raped in public in order to shame her family after she pleaded for their leniency with her brother, who was accused of being seen with a female from a rival tribe. Her brother was spared but she was not. Mai brought the case before Pakistani authorities, where it eventually attracted international attention from the press. New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who wrote stories about Mai, may even be a character in the film.

In other Roach-related news, word is that a third film in the Meet the Parents franchise is on the way, called Little Fockers. It's rumored that both Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro will reprise their roles as an at-odds son and father-in-law. According to reports, Owen Wilson, who appeared in a supporting capacity as the jilted ex-fiancee in Parents, will return in an expanded role in Little Fockers. Wilson did not appear in Meet the Fockers.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
02.24.09