Josh Gad is set to star as the late film critic Roger Ebert in a new film about one of the stranger parts of Ebert’s life.

Russ & Roger Go Beyond will co-star Will Ferrell as Russ Meyer, the infamous sexplotation producer, notes Variety. It will tell the story of how Meyer and Ebert got together to make the 1970 film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the first X-rated movie released by a major studio.

Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People), who was linked to the project in April, is set to direct. The script was written by Christopher Cluess (Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons) with Winterbottom, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons.

STX Entertainment is financing and distributing. The producers are Mark Amin’s Sobini Films, David Permut and Richard Waltzer.

Gad will next be seen in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and was just in the short-lived FX comedy The Comedians. He also starred in The Wedding Ringer and Pixels.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com