Sigourney Weaver, John C. Reilly and Alia Shawkat will join Anne Heche and Ed Helms in the upcoming Fox Searchlight comedy "Cedar Rapids", according to a report from Variety. Shooting has already begun on the project that was written by Phil Johnston and directed by Miguel Arteta.
In Cedar Rapids, Heche will play the friend and confidant of an insurance agent (Ed Helms) who attempts to save the jobs of multiple colleagues at an insurance convention. The Fox/Searchlight comedy, by Phil Johnston who developed it with Helms and is produced by Alexander Payne.
Weaver attended the Ethel Walker School, a prep school in Simsbury, Connecticut where she was made fun of all the time for being a "nerd" and for her height. She also attended The Chapin School She was reportedly 5'10" by age 13, but only grew another inch to her adult height of 5'11". She graduated from Stanford University (BA, English, 1972). She earned an MFA (1974) at Yale School of Drama, where she appeared in the chorus of a production of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs and as one of a mob of Roman soldiers in another production as well as, later, in original plays by friend and classmate Christopher Durang. She later appeared in the 1981 Off Broadway production of his comedy Beyond Therapy directed by then up-and-coming director Jerry Zaks.
Heche can currently be seen in the role of Jessica on HBO's Hung. Tony nominated for her role in Proof on Broadway, Heche also appeared on the Great White Way in Twentieth Century. She has won an Emmy Award for Another World and has appeared in such films as "The Juror" (1996), "Walking and Talking' with Catherine Keener (1996), "Donnie Brasco" opposite Johnny Depp (1997), "Volcano," and Barry Levinson's political satire "Wag the Dog" (1997).
