Alan Cumming, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Winters, et al. Set for Smurfs Movie

Neil Patrick Harris will star as a live-action character and Alan Cumming, Jonathan Winters and George Lopez will lend their voices to a live-action/animated Smurfs movie, according to a report in Variety. Raja Gosnell will direct the film, which has a screenplay by David N. Weiss & J. David Stem and Jay Sherick & David Ronn.

The Smurfs were created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, better known as Peyo, and have spawned a number of print and small screen incarnations worldwide. The 84-year-old Winters, who voiced multiple characters on the long-running Hanna-Barbera cartoon version of Smurfs, will play Papa Smurf. Cumming will voice Gutsy Smurf, while George Lopez will be heard as Grouchy Smurf. Details about Harris’ character will be announced at a later date.

Harris has starred in Rent, Sweeney Todd, Assassins and Sweeney Todd on stage. He currently plays Barney Stinson on CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, and starred in the title role of Doogie Howser, M.D. Harris also hosted the 63rd Tony Awards and the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. As previously reported on TheaterMania, he will appear later this year on FOX’s Glee.

Cumming won the Tony Award for Cabaret. He will be seen on the big screen in Julie Taymor’s adaptation of The Tempest and is slated to play the Green Goblin in the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, to be directed by Taymor. He recently joined the cast of CBS’ The Good Wife.