You know, usually the stars flock to films about glamorous thieves, tough law enforcement officials or downtrodden hookers with a heart of gold, possibly in the future. But this time Tinseltown's finest are turning out for the story of a small pig and his arachnid friend, as casting takes off for the new film of Charlotte's Web.
Julia Roberts will be playing the titular Charlotte, a spider who weaves words into her web in order to save her friend Wilbur, a small pig who she has all but adopted. Oprah Winifrey will play Gussy the Goose, a maternal figure in the barn where they all live, while John Cleese plays Samuel the Sheep and Steve Buscemi plays Templeton, a sardonic rat (a role he could do in his sleep).
Cedric the Entertainer plays another goose, called Golly, while Sideways' Thomas Haden Church will voice one of two dim-witted crows, opposite Andre 3000. Kathy Bates, and country music and Tremors star Reba McEntire, will play the barn's two cows.
Add in the inevitable Dakota Fanning role as the small moppet who befriends Wilbur, and you have a pretty stellar cast. Let's hope that they suit the roles and are not just gimmicky casting, but on the face of it we're hopeful that they'll get the tone right. The book is the best-selling children's paperback of all time (and we're betting it's going to get another push or two on Oprah's book club soon), and there are a lot of small fans out there hoping that they get it right.
The film's going to be live action but with some photo-real CGI work on the animals. So will this be another Babe? Or just a smelly hog? Only time will tell...