Brian Dennehy, Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, et al. Set for The Big Year Movie

Brian Dennehy, Tim Blake Nelson, Dianne Wiest, and JoBeth Williams will join Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson in The Big Year, according to a report in Variety. David Frankel will direct the picture, which has just begun shooting.

Based on Mark Obmascik’s 1998 book, the movie focuses on three men who try to outdo each other during a year-long competition to spot the rarest birds in North America. The film will also feature Anthony Anderson, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, and Jim Parsons.

Tony Award winner Dennehy recently concluded a run of the double-bill Hughie and Krapp’s Last Tape at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Nelson’s play Eye of God was seen last fall Off-Broadway. Among his stage acting credits are A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Central Park and The Beard of Avon at New York Theatre Workshop.

Wiest is currently appearing in The Forest at Classic Stage Company and she was seen last year on Broadway in All My Sons. Williams’ most recent stage appearance came last fall in Charles Randolph Wright’s The Night Is a Child at the Pasadena Playhouse.