Julia Stiles will join previously announced stars Dane Cook and Josh Hamilton in the Broadway cast of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig. The play, directed by LaBute, will begin performances at the Belasco Theatre on April 12 and open on April 26.
Fat Pig tells the story of Tom (Hamilton), an eligible bachelor who falls for the beautiful, bright and plus-sized Helen. Tom is overjoyed with his new relationship, but his shallow co-workers are less enthusiastic. Tom shrugs off their objections but eventually the cruel jabs of his acerbic friend Carter (Cook) and Jeannie (Stiles), a former flame, force him to question his own values and the importance of conventional good looks.
Stiles has previously been seen on Broadway in David Mamet’s Oleanna, a role she also played in London. She recently appeared in a weekend-long run of LaBute’s Filthy Talk for Troubled Times in New York, and has been rumored for a London production of another LaBute play, Reasons to be Pretty, opposite America Ferrera. Her many film credits include 10 Things I Hate About You, Down to You, Hamlet, The Business of Strangers, State and Main, The Bourne Identity, O, A Guy Thing, Mona Lisa Smile, The Prince & Me and The Bourne Supremacy. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role on the fifth season of Showtime’s Dexter.
The original off-Broadway production of Fat Pig opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on December 15, 2004, produced by MCC Theater and directed by Jo Bonney. The well-reviewed production starred Andrew McCarthy as Carter, Jeremy Piven as Tom, Keri Russell as Jeannie and Ashlie Atkinson as Helen. It won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play.
Additional creative team members and casting for the role of Helen will be announced shortly.