It must be a lot of fun casting veteran actors as parents of current stars. Thanks to past casting decisions we got to see Sean Connery play Harrison Ford's father, Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman play Ben Stiller's mom and dad, and Keith Richards (wait, he's not a veteran actor) as Johnny Depp's pirate papa. Now, somewhat similar to the parental stunt-casting of the Meet the Parents movies, we're getting some interesting casting choices for the roles of both Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's parents in next holiday season's Four Christmases. It's a comedy about a married couple attempting to visit with all four of their parents -- who are all divorced and live in four different locations -- on Christmas Day.

We've already learned Robert Duvall is one of the fathers (now we find out he's playing Vaughn's). Now, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actresses Sissy Spacek and Mary Steenburgen are hopping on board as the moms. Can you imagine which one goes with which of the movie's leads? Immediately I thought "Loretta Lynn" should be mom to "June Carter" and tall(er) "Clara Clayton" should be mom to super-tall "Fred Claus". Alas, the casting went the other way: "Carrie" is the mother of "Norman Bates" and "Hannah Nixon" is the mother of "Tracy Flick". To be more specific, "Spacek will play the slightly spacey, New Age mother of Brad (Vaughn). Steenburgen will play the chameleonlike mother of Kate (Witherspoon), whose personality changes depending on whom she's married to or dating." We still don't know which Academy Award winning actor (he has to have an Oscar, like the other parents) will play Witherspoon's dad -- may I suggest Chris Cooper? or Alan Arkin? The only other role cast is the part of Witherspoon's "controlling, type-A sister", to be played by Kristen Chenoweth.

It seems Teri Polo wasn't lying last month when she said there would be another sequel to Meet the Parents. Here, I thought she was just making up stuff in the hopes Universal would agree that a third installment is a good idea. She definitely needs the job more than the rest of the franchise's cast. In fact, I bet she's hoping for a television spin-off (on which she'd be the only actor to follow her part to the tube, I'm sure). Anyway, it is true. Universal is moving ahead with Little Fockers.

The sequel, which follows the comical next step by featuring children, was confirmed with the studio's renewing of its contract with Robert DeNiro's and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca Productions, which will produce the movie. Jay Roach will be returning to the franchise as director and Larry Stuckey is set to write the script. Obviously Polo, DeNiro, Ben Stiller, and Blythe Danner will all have to return, possibly joined by Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. And no Fockers movie is complete without a visit from Owen Wilson.

Unlike a lot of people, I hated Meet the Parents but really enjoyed Meet the Fockers, mostly due to Hoffman though for other reasons as well. I'm pretty positive that I would not like this third movie, though, because I feel like I already know every joke it will include. I could do without any more first-time diaper change gags, thank you. Anyway, didn't the second movie already feature enough kiddie comedy? Still, I'm very glad they're making this. My mother absolutely loves the first two and I'm sure she'll love another. And anything that makes Mom happy makes me happy.

One for the "I knew it was coming, but I kinda wish it wasn't" department: Everyone get ready for a movie called Meet the Little Focker, which will be the third chapter in the densely-plotted and astoundingly brainy series that began with Meet the Parents and continued (miserably) with Meet the Fockers.

According to an AP report, actress Teri Polo is the one who let the cat out of the bag ... and that's pretty much all we got for you, news-wise. Meet the Little Focker. Coming soon. Teri Polo said so. And it seems a safe bet that folks like Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman will be returning. All those actors have really expensive houses and cars and stuff, you know.

While you're awaiting the most heavily-anticipated baby-centric second sequel since Look Who's Talking Now, take a few minutes to contemplate this fact: Meet the Fockers grossed $280 million in North America alone. That figures out to about $140 million per laugh. But yeah, make another one. Absolutely. Maybe one day Universal can mount a trilogy about something even more domestically banal, like Next Door Neighbor or Squeaky Screen Door.

Having written the screenplays for Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and Along Came Polly (which he also directed), it's obvious John Hamburg has an eye for comedy, as well as starring vehicles for Ben Stiller. Now it looks like Hamburg will take on two more directing gigs for Universal (did the studio officially adopt him or what?), one of which he wrote himself and the other appears to be a collaboration.

Based on a pitch by Hamburg, Scott Turpel and Kyle Pennekamp, Universal has picked up the buddy action comedy Secret Agent Men, a project Hamburg will direct, while Turpel and Pennekamp pen the script. Story is being kept under wraps right now (dare I say it's a secret), though something tells me Stiller's name will circle one of the starring roles. However, Hamburg's other film (which he'll direct first), The Troubleshooter, is currently searching for its cast, so I guess now it's a question of whether or not Stiller will show up in just one or both films?

And speaking of Stiller, what happened to the guy? Is it just me, or are his role choices progressively getting worse?