Ryan Reynolds Gets Heroic in LAFF Opener

After glamming it up last year with the Angelina Jolie thriller Wanted, the Los Angeles Film Festival has downsized its opening-night gala premiere for 2009: Paper Man, an undistributed indie featuring Jeff Daniels and Ryan Reynolds as the imaginary superhero "who's lived inside his head since second grade." And it gets better!

According to a statement released by the festival, Daniels stars as Richard Dunn, "a writer caught between the pressures of deadlines, the expectations of his wife (Lisa Kudrow), and the constant presence of the superhero (Ryan Reynolds) who's lived inside his head since second grade." Along comes Emma Stone as a teenager who shows him the value of growing up. Just your average "coming-of-middle-age story," we're informed, with a bleached-blond Reynolds in a cape.

The film, by rookie directors Michele and Kieran Mulroney, will be seeking distribution at the fest and provide a preemptive tonic for the seizure-inducing glitz of the fest's Transformers 2 bow a few nights later. Help yourself to a serving here.

· Los Angeles Film Festival