Our nonstop Jon Brion watch continues with news that a new Fiona Apple album is on the horizon (though no confirmation yet on Brion’s involvement), the 3D stop-motion flick ParaNorman was scored by the producer/composer, and another collaboration with Judd Apatow is in the works. As for the latter, The Playlist reports today that Apatow recruited Brion for his next project, This Is 40, a dramedy about a family going through a midlife crisis, starring a number of Apatow’s regular players: his wife, Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Charlyne Yi, and other consistently funny folks.
This puts Brion’s addition more in line with his film work on comedies like The Other Guys and Step Brothers, than, say, his Paul Thomas Anderson collaborations, Miranda July’s The Future, or Stone. And while much of this update feels like standard fare coming from team Apatow, the addition of fresh faces to the forthcoming flick — namely, John Lithgow, Albert Brooks, Melissa McCarthy, and emerging director/writer/actress Lena Dunham — promises plenty of surprises are in order. Here’s hoping Brion will pen one of his bittersweet pop tunes we’re always hungry for (or even better, gets inspired to work on the long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 solo debut, Meaningless).