Steve Martin in Negotiantions to Star in Comedy 'The Big Year'

Steve Martin co-hosted the Oscars this year and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is now in negotiations to star in the new comedy The Big Year with Jack Black and Owen Wilson. David Frankel, who directed Wilson previously in Marley and Me, will helm the movie. Shooting starts in May on location in Canada.

The movie is based on the 1998 book, The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession, by Mark Obmascik, and the script was adapted from that book by Howard Franklin. The plot centers on three men who enter a competition to spot the rarest birds in North America.

Ben Stiller, Karen Rosenfelt and Stuart Cornfeld are producing the flick. The project has been in development at Fox 2000 for a while, and cast members have changed more than once during that time. Dustin Hoffman was attached for a time but dropped out.

Wilson is also working on the new Farrelly brothers movie Hall Pass, in which a few couples allow a spouse to cheat in a controlled manner by way of a pass, given by the other spouse.