A few months ago Hugh Grant agreed to take some time off fighting the press to actually star in a movie, which Marc Lawrence will direct (incidentally, Lawrence has never helmed a movie that didn’t star Hugh). Now he’s got some company, as THR reports that J.K. Simmons and Chris Elliott have joined Hugh Grant, Marisa Tomei, Bella Heathcote and Allison Janney in the currently untitled comedy.

The film is about Ray Michaels (Grant), who in 1998 was on top of the world – a witty, sexy, Englishman in Hollywood who had just won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Fifteen years later, he’s creatively washed up, divorced, and broke. With no other options, he takes a job teaching screenwriting at a small college on the East Coast. Although the idea of teaching is less than thrilling, he hopes to make some easy money and enjoy the favours of impressionable young co-eds. What he doesn’t expect to find is romance with a single mom (Tomei) who’s gone back to school.

Simmons will portray Dr. Lerner, Chairman of the University’s English department, a family man who takes Michaels under his wing. Elliott meanwhile will portray Jim, a Shakespeare professor and next-door neighbour to Michaels, in search of that certain someone.

The film will begin shooting in New York in April.