Versatile Jackman Spreads Himself into ‘Butter’

He can do drama, super-heroes, broadway, rom coms and now Black List scripts too. The very busy Hugh Jackman is the latest, and probably the last announcement in what has been a busy two weeks of casting for the Jim Field Smith directed, Jason Micallef penned, Weinstein comedy which will begin lensing later this month. I believe Jackman takes over not the spot that was vacated by Jim Carrey (that eventually went to Rob Corddry), but a supporting player with a handful of scenes.

Butter recently added ladies Alicia Silverstone, Olivia Wilde, Ashley Greene and Yara Shahidi – who’ll play Destiny. Set in a small Midwest town, and follows a young orphan (Shahidi), after being adopted by a Midwestern family, discovers she has an uncanny talent for butter-carving. She eventually finds herself up against the ambitious wife (Garner) of the retired reigning champion in a town’s annual butter-sculpting contest. Jackman portrays an old flame of Garner’s character, while Silverstone will play the adoptive mother of a teen girl who becomes a major contender in the butter-carving competish. Ashley Greene takes on the step-daughter role of Garner’s character and Wilde plays a stripper, to which I say yum.

This will be released sometime in 2011, and could potentially be a Sundance release if the Weinsteins are looking for a Greenberg-like release date.