By Zorianna Kit

After directing the raucous comedies “Road Trip,” “Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch,” Todd Phillips made “The Hangover,” which became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time ($480 million worldwide) last summer. For his encore, he reteams with “Hangover” co-star and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis for the November Warner Bros. release “Due Date,” which also stars Robert Downey Jr.

THR: Would you say your movies have a common theme?

Phillips: They’re about holding on to your youth or putting off responsibility as long as possible. There’s a point in your life where you have to choose responsibility, and the characters are putting off that choice.

By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit

WME has scooped up screenwriter Jonah Nolan, who is currently working on the screenplay for the next Batman film for his writer-director brother, Christopher. Jonah was previously repped by UTA.

Jonah wrote the original short story “Memento Mori,” on which Christopher based his breakthrough film, “Memento.” He then co-wrote the screenplays for his brother’s films “The Prestige” and “The Dark Knight.”

Jonah has also been working on the screenplay for “Interstellar,” a sci-fi epic that Steven Spielberg is attached to direct and produce, along with Lynda Obst, who had a hand in developing the original story. I first reported about that project’s back story three years ago.

Nolan is also repped by attorney Michael Schenkman at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette & Feldman.

By Jay A. Fernandez

DreamWorks Animation has slipped out a teaser trailer for its November release, “Megamind.” It’s very heavy on Will Ferrell as the deluded villain, and doesn’t even provide a glimpse of Brad Pitt’s Metro Man or Tina Fey’s intrepid reporter Roxanne.

By Zorianna Kit

He’s been a working comic for years, but thanks to “The Hangover,” Zach Galifianakis and his bushy beard are now bona fide movie stars. This year he co-stars with Robert Downey Jr. in “Due Date,” directed by “Hangover” filmmaker and ShoWest honoree Todd Phillips, and “Dinner for Schmucks” for another ShoWest honoree, Jay Roach.

THR: Congrats on your award!

Galifianakis: I’m flattered; I’ve never won anything before. Well, I won at my friend’s Bingo game about a year ago, but I provided the prizes so it didn’t count.

By Jay A. Fernandez and Daniel Carlson

Is the Austin-set SXSW Film Festival getting too big for its chaps?

As far as problems go, excessive demand is a good one to have for a film festival. It means programmers are making strong choices, the venues are attractive and the regional vibe welcoming.

But as of the 2010 edition, which featured crowds of badge and ticket holders turned away from nearly every screening, the festival’s organizers have some hard decisions to make. Take over more venues to increase the screening count and you risk angering the locals, limit badge and ticket sales to cap demand and you risk undercutting SXSW’s populist credibility.

By Borys Kit

While it may seem that Summit Entertainment is all about vampires and witches, the upstart company is going into teen thriller mode, picking up “Puzzle Palace” from newbie writer David Guggenheim. Temple Hill, the production shingle behind “Twilight,” is attached to produce.

By Jay A. Fernandez

Well, I’m a little late with these SXSW feature awards, since I foolishly decided to fly back to L.A. during the Tuesday night ceremony, but I hear a bunch of people broke the embargo early, which is a shameful bungle.

The narrative feature jury award was given to Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture,” which had its world premiere Monday. The documentary feature jury award was handed to Jeff Malmberg’s “Marwencol,” about a brain-damaged man who creates a 1/6-scale model of a World War II-era town in his backyard. Runner-up in the doc category was Rebecca Richman Cohen’s “War Don Don.”

By Gregg Kilday

Within hours after “Monsters” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, Magnet Releasing scooped up distribution rights for the U.S. and Mexico.

Gareth Edwards‘ first feature, a sci-fi tale about alien lifeforms that have infected a quarantined zone in Mexico, was shot using actors like Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able working alongside local people they met during a road trip through Guatemala, Mexico and the U.S.

By Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez

CAA is now in the Spike Lee business, signing the director for representation. Lee had been at WME.

The director, whose last feature was the 2008 war drama “Miracle at St. Anna,” has lately been spending his time in the TV world. Last year he made “Passing Strange” for PBS and a Kobe Bryant documentary for ESPN Films, and he is currently working on a documentary about New Orleans.

By Jay A. Fernandez

I was happy to have scored a seat at the SXSW Midnight Shorts screening at the Lamar late Monday night. It had started to rain and, once again, the theater sidewalk was packed with moviegoers.

A dozen weird, whimsical, raunchy and freaky shorts made the cut, and almost all of them were engaging and, often, hilarious.