Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway have spied new jobs, Sarah Jessica Parker is on a hiring spree while hubby Matthew Broderick is back on the boards, and Kristen Bell has a new Boy in her life.
First up, the dynamic duo of Carell and Hathaway. Already on board for a Get Smart sequel, now they have each landed deals that will keep them fiirmly entrenched on Hollywood's A-list.
According to Variety, Carell is teaming with Warner Bros. to form his own production company, Carousel Productions, with former Daily Show cohort (and brother of Ellen) Vance DeGeneres and old Second City pal Charlie Hartsock. Carell and crew will begin working on their own ideas after he wraps the current season of The Office and his upcoming big-screen tag team with Tina Fey, Date Night.
Hathaway, meanwhile, has scored a plum role in Tim Burton's highly anticipated spin on Alice in Wonderland. She'll play the White Queen, who's exiled by her foul-tempered sister, the Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham Carter), and befriends Alice (Mia Wasikowska). Johnny Depp stars as the Mad Hatter.
In other casting news:
- Sarah Jessica Parker has tapped Rachael Taylor, Bitsie Tulloch and Amanda Walsh to play the female leads in the SATC alum's upcoming HBO comedy pilot, Washingtonienne, chronicling the sexploits and professional travails of three smart and sassy young women working on Capitol Hill.
- Meanwhile Mr. SJP, Matthew Broderick, is heading back to the boards. The erstwhile Producers star will headline Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of The Philanthropist, playing an insular college professor. Previews for the Christopher Hampton comedy begin April 10 and the curtain goes up April 26.
- Kristen Bell is blasting off with Astro Boy. She's the latest addition to the voice cast of the film, joining Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, Eugene Levy and Matt Lucas, with Freddie Highmore in the title role of young robot with incredible powers.
- Finally, 91-year-old Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine's got a new gig. The Wild Bunch star will topline the Hallmark Channel's TV movie The Wishing Well opposite Sally Kellerman and Jordan Ladd—the 200th feature-length project of his prestigious career.