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The movie, which will be headlined by The Office and The Hangover star Ed Helms, will be a reinvention of the ’80s comedy hit which originally starred Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, a man maniacally bent on giving his family a great vacation in spite of everything possible seeming to go wrong around him.
The Shining‘s Anthony Michael Hall and The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki were among the four actors to play Rusty Griswold, Clark’s son, throughout the life of the franchise. Rusty, played by Helms, will be the lead of the remake, with Chevy Chase and his onscreen wife Beverly D’Angelo reportedly making a cameo appearance in the film.
The franchise is derived from a short story by The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink filmmaker John Hughes, who was Universal’s first choice to direct the 1983 original and is credited with the screenplay. The filmmaker and studio fell out during production, though, and Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis took over as director. Throughout the ’80s, National Lampoon’s Vacation, European Vacation and Christmas Vacation proved to be massive, enduring hits while Vegas Vacation, Christmas Vacation 2 and Hotel Hell Vacation proved less successful — so much so that many fans don’t even realize there were sequels beyond 1997’s Vegas.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hemsworth will play Stone Crandall, an up-and-coming anchorman and the husband of Rusty’s sister, Audrey, who has not yet been cast. Audrey has also had four incarnations, including Juliette Lewis and Dana Barron, who starred in both the original and in Christmas Vacation 2 twenty years later. It’s likely they’ll cast somebody new for the role.
Day will repotedly cameo as a river-rafting guide. The film is expected to start shooting in 2015.
