Ben Stiller hires people who are not Ben Stiller to help Ben Stiller remake The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller is making some serious progress on his remake of 1947’s The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty—with director Ben Stiller workshopping daily with star Ben Stiller, giving him honest advice, Stiller to Stiller, and offering the sort of constructive criticism that Ben Stiller knows will get the best performance out of Ben Stiller. But as there are limits even to the capacity of Stiller, Ben Stiller has hired some non-Ben Stillers to join the story of a nebbishy man who slips into a fantasy life where he can do anything, and also co-star in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Unmerited yet thematically appropriate burn!

Anyway, as befitting the way the project spent over a decade passing through every popular comic actor, the supporting cast so far sort of looks like a Comedy Class of 2012 photo: Kristen Wiig will play a co-worker who becomes Stiller’s fantasy girl, Patton Oswalt will play an eHarmony worker who helps Stiller create an online dating profile, and now Adam Scott has signed on for an as-yet-unspecified role. And adding a link to the film’s roots—at least, those that don’t have to do with original short story writer James Thurber, who would probably hate this one as well if he weren’t dead—Shirley MacLaine has also signed on to play Stiller’s mother, as well as entertain cast, crew, and Jay Leno, probably, with stories about having sex with Danny Kaye. “That’s going to be fun. You’re doing a great job so far, Ben Stiller,” Ben Stiller said to Ben Stiller, warmly shaking hands with Ben Stiller.