Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: HBO is going for some serious acting firepower on the Noah Baumbach/Scott Rudin drama The Corrections. The pay cable network has Oscar winner Chris Cooper in negotiations and two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest set for the two leads in the project based on Jonathan Franzen’s book, which is yet to be formally greenlighted to pilot. The award-wining 2001 novel revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple, to be played by Cooper and Wiest, and their three adult children — roles that are now being cast — as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium. Baumbach and Franzen co-wrote the adaptation, with Baumbach set to direct the pilot. Rudin, who had been developing the project for a decade, originally as a feature, is executive producing with Baumbach and Franzen. ICM-repped Wiest, whose previous HBO series role on In Treatment earned her an Emmy, will next be seen in The Odd Life Of Timothy Green and Lawrence Kasdan’s Darling Companion. Cooper, repped by Paradigm and Untitled, will next be seen in The Muppets. His most recent TV gig was a co-starring role in the 2003 HBO movie My House In Umbria, which landed him an Emmy nomination.

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