Casting Call: A-Rod Lines Up Big Screen Debut!

A-Rod is hoping to hit a home run at the box office. Zac Efron joins the workforce. Plus, Haley Joel Osment enrolls in a new “Sex Ed” course.

It’s all in the latest edition of the AccessHollywood.com Casting Call…

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is headed from the diamond to the big screen.

The baseball superstar will make his movie debut in the upcoming Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis rom-com “Friends With Benefits,” according to Variety.

The plot follows two friends who embark on an innocent fling, only to see their friendship suffer when feelings start to grow deeper.

Also joining the cast are Woody Harrelson, Andy Samberg, Emma Stone, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman and Richard Jenkins.

No word if A-Rod will play himself or another character in the movie.

Production is slated to begin later this month and Screen Gems has said they will work around A-Rod’s busy baseball schedule to shoot on his off days.

*****

Zac Efron is getting ready to punch the clock.

The former “High School Musical” heartthrob will star in and produce an upcoming as-yet untitled “workplace comedy” for Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project will re-team Zac with producers Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot, who worked with the actor on “17 Again” and “Hairspray.”

No plot details were immediately available on the film.

The 22-year-old star will next be seen on the big screen in the drama “Charlie St. Cloud,” which hits theaters on July 30.

In other Zac news, he will also be lending his voice to Cartoon Network Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III,” reports Variety.

Zac will voice the Anakin Skywalker character in the latest installment of the “Robot” franchise, which will be directed by Chris McKay and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich.

Other stars lending their vocal talents to “Episode III” include Green, Donald Faison, Rachael Leigh Cook, Adrianne Palicki, Donald Glover and Mike Henry.

*****

Haley Joel Osment is about to get a refresher course in the birds and the bees.

The former “Sixth Sense” star has signed on to star in the comedy “Sex Ed,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

The 22-year-old actor will play a college grad who “dreams of teaching high school algebra, but due to budget restraints, ends up teaching sexual education, despite being a virgin. He discovers an unlikely mentor in a blues bar, a ruthless enemy in the local PTA, and a gorgeous Polish girl for whom English is a distant second language,” producers told the trade.

The pic will mark the first film for Osment since 2007’s “Home of the Giants.”

*****

“Parks and Recreation” star Chris Pratt is ready to take the field with Brad Pitt and friends on the big screen.

Pratt, who plays down-on-his-luck Andy on the NBC sitcom, has joined the cast of “Moneyball,” Access Hollywood has confirmed.

The cast also includes Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robyn Wright.

Pratt will step into the role of former Oakland Athletics real-life player Scott Hatteberg.

The baseball box office project, based on Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane’s book of the same name, began production this week – with photos of Pitt shaving off his beard for the role of Beane.

Copyright © 2024 by NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This material may not be republished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More

Renée Zellweger & Hugh Grant Returning For New 'Bridget Jones' Movie