vvMaybe we should change this site’s name to Cinematic Happenings Under David Dobkin. That’s right, this is the second news story in a row featuring the director of The Wedding Crashers – earlier tonight I brought you what I’m pretty sure is the scoop that Dobkin is directing an adaptation of the horror-comedy comic RIPD (click here), and now we have some news about his next project, once titled Fred Claus.

That name has been changed apparently due to rights issues, but the plot remains the same – Santa Claus has to deal with trouble when his black sheep brother blows back into the North Pole. Vince Vaughn’s been set to star as the brother (presumably Fred) for some time, and now Paul Giamatti has been brought on to play Santa himself. An interesting choice, I must say – Giamatti doesn’t really project “jolly.” I am not even sure he projects “being able to stand children.”

Still, I’m wildly interested to see how the chemistry between these two leads works.