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from indiewire.com
"THE BAXTER"

"I'm a big fan of the romantic comedy genre and I've loved the character of the 'wrong boyfriend,'" Michael Showalter says. "I thought it would be interesting to give him the central love story. It's as if you were watching a typical romantic comedy where the girl dumps my character for the leading man but instead of staying with the girl and the leading man we go off with the wrong guy and see what happens to him." That sums up Showalter's solo directorial debut, "The Baxter." Along with directing, he also wrote the screenplay and plays the lead role of Elliot, that wrong guy who's madly in love with Caroline, a woman who's way out of his league.

Known for being a member of the comedy troupe, "The State," and starring in the cult favorite "Wet Hot American Summer" (which he also co-wrote and co-produced), Michael Showalter has gone solo for this project. Spending eight months writing the film on his own, he has attempted, as he puts it, "to invert the [romantic comedy] genre while at the same time staying within it." "[It's] very much in the vain of an old 1940s screwball romantic comedy," Showalter says, while taking a break from shooting. "There are a lot of twists and turns and it's got a fairly intricate storyline."

Showalter is in the midst of a 20-day shoot with a cast including Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, Peter Dinklage, Zak Orth, Michael Ian Black, Catherine Lloyd Burns, and Elizabeth Banks ("Seabiscuit") as Caroline. The IFC Films production is shooting in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, with DP Tim Orr ("All the Real Girls," "Raising Victor Vargas"). Showalter hopes to be done with principal photography by the middle of April with post finished by July.