Variety is reporting Josh Gad has closed a deal to play the legendary film critic Roger Ebert in the STX Entertainment comedy “ Russ & Roger .” Will Ferrell is on board to play sexploitation maestro Russ Meyer , with Michael Winterbottom directing. Gad had been in talks to star for some time, contingent on scheduling. A debauched comedy in which truth is crazier than fiction, the film is an outrageous look at two no-holds-barred outsiders who defied the Hollywood establishment to make one of the first X-rated films ever released by a major movie studio (“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”) — having the party of a lifetime in the process. The film is being produced by Mark Amin’s Sobini Films and David Permut’s Permut Presentations along with Richard Waltzer. The script was penned by Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons” scribe Christopher Cluess, with Winterbottom, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons doing a polish. Production is set to start later this year. Gad...