When we saw the billboard ads for the upcoming Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor comedy I Love You Phillip Morris that popped up during the Cannes Film Festival, our interest was piqued in the film, which tells the true tale of a married conman who fell in love with his prison buddy and managed to pull off several outlandish escapes.

Yesterday the above pic, which is being touted as the first official still from the movie, hit the web.

Interesting, to say the least, and it certainly doesn't look like they're trying to bury the gay element. Thoughts?

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According to today's Variety Ewan McGregor has signed on to play opposite Jim Carrey in the gay prison romance, I Love You Phillip Morris.

Carrey was attached to the project earlier this year. He will play Steven Russell, a married con man who gets sentenced to 3 years in the Texas prison system and falls in love with his cellmate, the titular "Phillip Morris." McGregor will play Morris.

When Morris is eventually released from jail, Russell escapes no less than three times in order to be with him.

The script is based on a book by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker, and the project begins filming this spring after Carrey finishes up work on a Robert Zemeckis motion-capture project (a la Polar Express & Beowulf). This will push the release date for I Love You Phillip Morris to early 2009.

Me, I can't wait for this film and couldn't be happier with the casting. Jim Carrey won me over a few years ago with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I've been a big fan of McGregor's since Trainspotting. And not simply because he's the film industry's go-to guy for full frontal nudity. (The man has flashed his giblets in too many films to mention.)

Oh all right, after the break I'll mention. And I'll throw in some hot pics of the Scottish actor looking saucy in a kilt to boot!

Via Towleroad.com comes news that Jim Carrey is soon to play gay in I Love You Philip Morris. The flick tells the story of one Steven Russell, a married Texas inmate who fell in love with his cell-mate while incarcerated. When his cell-mate was released from prison, Russell escaped four times in order to reunite with his jailhouse love. I haven't read the book so I can't say whether or not Russell's feelings are reciprocated or not.

The Variety article leaves out a few interesting details including the fact that Russell was apparently a genius who just couldn't keep out of jail. His first jailbreak was achieved simply by grabbing a walkie-talkie and walking out the door. (That seems to have less to do with his genius than the guard's stupidity.) His last escape was done by faking his death as an AIDS patient along with his own death certificate. Twice he left prison and landed six figure jobs for corporations. (Hmm, someone wasn't doing their background checks.)

I can't say I'm wild about Carrey's being cast in the part, but to be fair, his signing on for the role is probably the reason the movie is getting made. And I'm glad it was pitched as Brokeback Mountain meets Catch Me if You Can as that indicates they don't intend to whitewash the romantic aspects--hopefully. And being pitched as half Brokeback also indicates that maybe there are finally some signs of life in the gay genre after all.

I think this is Carrey's first time in a gay role, but not his first in a movie with gay interest. That would be 1992's Doing Time on Maple Drive where Carrey played Tim Carter, the alcoholic brother of Matt Carter (William McNamara) a young gay man who comes out shortly before his marriage. It was actually not a half bad television flick and showed Carrey had some acting chops that he has used occasionally since then. Even though the movie is being touted as a little bit of Bad Santa, hopefully Carrey can keep the overacting to a minimum and make this one work.