Chris Messina is in negotiations to star opposite Amy Adams and Meryl Streep in Nora Ephron's comedy Julie & Julia for Columbia.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Messina is in line to play the husband of Adams' title character, a depressed government worker trying to add spice to her marriage and life by making every recipe in Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Streep plays the famed cookbook author in a parallel post-World War II story line. Stanley Tucci is set to play Child's husband.

Ephron adapted the script from Julie Powell's autobiographical book "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen." Powell's husband Eric urged her to start a blog about the undertaking, which led to a large online following and her 2005 nonfiction best-seller.

Principal photography is tentatively set to begin in March.