Though he still hasn't lined up his next directing gig, Judd Apatow is slowly creating a comedic empire. His latest producing effort, Year One, has added five new faces to its cast -- and The Hollywood Reporter tells us one of those faces just happens to be McLovin himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Joining Mintz-Plasse in the comedy will be Oliver Platt, David Cross, Vinnie Jones and Juno Temple. Production on the film is set to begin this January in Louisiana and New Mexico, with Harold Ramis onboard to direct off a script written by Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (both of whom have written several episodes of The Office). Jack Black and Michael Cera also star.

All we know about the story at this point is that it's a comedy set in biblical times. HR says Platt is in talks to play a platform-shoe-wearing high priest (love that description!), while Jones will tackle the role of a head palace guard named Sargon. No word on who Cross, Temple and Mintz-Plasse will play, though I assume the latter will take on the role of biblical geek? So far Apatow has found success with comedies set in today's world, around characters we can all relate to. It should be interesting to see his group take on a project set in biblical times, though anything with Jack Black and Michael Cera in the lead automatically garners my interest. But here's the big question: Who will Will Ferrell play in a cameo role?

He will always be "McLovin", but at least newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse has found another role to follow-up his hilarious debut in Superbad. The actor told Moviehole in an interview hat he has been cast in Little Big Men alongside comedy vets Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott. This is apparently the movie formerly known as Big Brothers, which was written by Timothy Dowling (George Lucas in Love) and which was to be directed by Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door). According to Mintz-Plasse, though, Little Big Men will now be helmed by Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten director David Wain. The movie's plot involves two wild and crazy guys who end up sentenced to community service in the form of the Big Brothers mentoring program. Why a judge would think a couple of party boys would be suitable mentors to kids is beyond me (the program does have very strict guidelines against drug users, and I'm sure these guys are probably potheads), but it should at least make for some funny situations.

It isn't clear what kind of role Mintz-Plasse will have (the mentored kid, perhaps?), but I see him having difficulty shedding his persona as Fogel/McLovin, which was so perfect I almost found the guy funnier than Michael Cera. The actor may end up like Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, who similarly came on the scene with a quirky, imitable character and has had trouble finding another movie that audiences accept him in (he succeeded marginally by co-starring with Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory). Interestingly enough, Heder even played a Big Brother in School for Scoundrels -- at least, his character was in the program until being let go for being too much of a loser. If Mintz-Plasse can join the ranks of Wain's usual crop of collaborators -- which spans the State/Stella/Reno 911! crowd and the Apatow/Stiller "Frat Pack" group -- then he should be able to make a decent career for himself.