Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly will star in The Extra Man, a comedy that Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor) will direct.

According to Variety, the film is based on a novel by Jonathan Ames; Pulcini and Springer Berman wrote the script with the author. The duo last directed The Nanny Diaries.

Kline plays a failed playwright who works as an escort for rich widows on the Upper East Side. He develops a mentor-student relationship with a troubled aspiring playwright (Dano).

Likely Story's Anthony Bregman and Stephanie Davis of 3 Arts will produce. Stefanie Azpiazu, Ames, Pulcini and Springer Berman will be executive producers and Rebecca Rivo will be co-producer.

"This is a film for our times, these hilarious characters living on the edge of enormous wealth, scrapping for small pieces of the pie," Bregman said. "I suspect a lot of people will be able to identify nowadays."

Production begins February in New York.