Brian Dennehy and Dianne Wiest Join 'The Big Year' FIlm

According to Variety, stage and screen veterans Brian Dennehy and Dianne Wiest have officially been cast in A Big Year, directed by David Frankel. Dennehy and Wiest join an all-star cast, which includes Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston.

A Big Year is based on the book of the same name by Mark Obmascik, which tells the true-life story of three men and their year-long competition to spot the most rare birds in North America. The film is scheduled to be released in 2011.

Brian Dennehy most recently starred in the Broadway-bround productions of Hughie and Krapp's Last Tape at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where his credits include Desire Under the Elms (2009), Hughie (2004, also at Trinity Repertory Company and Long Wharf Theatre), Long Day's Journey Into Night (2002), Death of a Salesman (1998), A Touch of the Poet (1996), The Iceman Cometh (also at The Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and Galileo (1986). His Broadway credits include Desire Under the Elms, Inherit the Wind, Long Day's Journey Into Night (Tony Award for Best Actor, 2003), Death of a Salesman (Tony Award for Best Actor, 1999) and Translations. His off-Broadway credits include Richard Nelson's Conversations in Tusculum at the Public Theater, Trumbo at Westside Theatre, The Cherry Orchard at Brooklyn Academy Of Music and Says I, Says He at Phoenix Theatre.

Dianne Wiest is currently appearing as Raisa in The Forest at Classic Stage Company. She last appeared onstage in Arthur Miller's All My Sons on Broadway. Additional credits: Wendy Wasserstein's Third, Memory House by Kathleen Tolan, Salome, Oedipus, The Shawl, Hunting Cockroaches, After the Fall, Beyond Therapy and The Art of Dining. Film credits include The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters (Oscar), Radio Days, September and Bullets Over Broadway (Oscar), all by Woody Allen. She also appeared in Parenthood (Oscar nomination), Edward Scissorhands and The Birdcage. She recently completed Charlie Kaufman's movie Synecdoche and the acclaimed HBO series "In Treatment." Ms. Wiest appeared at Classic Stage Company two seasons ago as Arkadina in Chekhov's The Seagull.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.