Oprah, Julia team up
2005-01-20 14:20
Los Angeles - Pretty Woman Julia Roberts, US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey and British comic John Cleese have been enticed into lending their voices to an animated remake of the film Charlotte's Web.
The film, to be directed by Gary Winick, is a big screen adaptation of EB White's classic children's book and will feature and all-star cast, lead by the Oscar-winning Roberts, producers said on Wednesday.
Also lending their voices will be actors Steve Buscemi and Cedric The Entertainer, as well as Kathy Bates, Sideways star Thomas Haden Church, singer-actress Reba McEntire and Outkast hip-hop star Andre Benjamin.
Roberts will play the lead role of Charlotte A Cavatica, the spider heroine of the book who goes out of her way to save Wilbur the pig's life by weaving miraculous words into her webs, according to Paramount Pictures.
Winfrey will be the voice of Gussy, the barn's maternal yet irreverent goose, while Cleese will take on Samuel the sheep and Buscemi will voice the barn's sardonic rat, Templeton.
The film, which combines live-action and computer generated animation, will begin filing in Australia on January 31.
Charlotte's Web is the best-selling children's paperback of all time.
It has sold 45 million copies in 23 languages since it was first published in 1952. The book was made into a 1973 animated feature by Paramount.