Slow News Day: Fatty Black, Pregnant Poehler, Hawaiian Freak, Preview Pie

ITEM: Jack Black is the latest actor to join Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, playing an overweight comedian named "Fats." One can only hope the movie's other jokes play on a slightly higher level.

ITEM: Austin Powers scribe Michael McCullens will make his directing debut with Baby Mama, in which Tina Fey hires Amy Poehler as a baby surrogate to avoid taking maternity leave. Hopefully that promising casting can eclipse the dumb-ass title, not to mention the plot, which is not only bland and predictable, but also strangely similar to SNL co-star Will Forte's recently wrapped script for The Brothers Solomon.

ITEM: Jason Segel, still best known as the lovelorn drummer of Freaks and Geeks, has lined up his first leading film role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a romantic comedy about a guy who decides to get over his break-up blues with a Hawaiian vacation, only to find his ex traveling to the same island with her new beau. Kristin Bell of Veronica Mars will play the titular role. How did Segel land the gig after years of wacky sidekick background acting? Well, he wrote it himself.

ITEM: The anticipated dramedy Waitress, written and directed by the late Hal Hartley protege Adrienne Shelly, finally has a trailer up. Unfortunately, it looks like an obnoxious, cutesy retread of every other uber-Southern indie flick you've ever seen, but will hopefully be saved by the comic talents of Nathan Fillion and Cheryl Hines.

Down with the Thunder

Tropic Thunder, already one of the most exciting comedies in development due to Stiller's return to directing and the involvement of Etan Cohen and Justin Theroux, has just gotten an extra kick of thunder with its latest casting news. Robert Downey Jr. will play Kirk Lazarus, a multiple-Oscar-winning acting legend who gets caught up with several other performers in a real-life war scenario armed only with the fleeting, oversimplified training skills taught to them in a Hollywood boot camp to prepare for film. Undeclared's Jay Baruchel has also come on board as a rookie actor on the team. Filming is schedule to start in July.

RDJ, as we like to call him, will be bringing his lizard-like quirks to all manner of major upcoming thrillers and superhero flicks, but for the purposes of this particular news channel, his next relevant project will see him playing a high school principal and foil to the Ferris-Bueller-esque title character in Charlie Bartlett. Baruchel will be seen this fall in Knocked Up, which could likely set him up with Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr as a new generation of Frat Packers called "The Roommates." He'll also headline the dark comedy Pushing Up Daisies and the fanboy comedy... Fanboys, and his titular role in I'm Reed Fish is playing at U.S. Comedy Arts Festival this week.