Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation), and Anjelica Huston have signed on to co-star in David Frankel's The Big Year.  The film centers on three men (played by Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson) who try to outdo each other during a year-long competition to spot the rarest birds in North America.  I will now pray for a dearth of "cock" and "pecker" puns.  The cast also includes Rosamund Pike, JoBeth Williams, Brian Dennehy, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Anderson and Tim Blake Nelson.  Oh, and Variety also reports that Kevin Pollak and Joel McHale are in talks to join the film.  There are a lot of people in this movie.

Hit the jump for details on the roles Parsons, Jones, and Huston will play.

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Per Variety, Jones will play an avid "birder" in the contest who is the love interest of Black's character.  Huston's character is also an "avid birder" and captains ocean-going expeditions.  As for Parsons, he'll play "the author of a popular avian blog."  I suppose this also makes him an "avid birder."  I think that's a bit redundant.  Once you're willing to refer to yourself as a "birder", it's pretty much implied that you're "avid."

The most interesting piece of casting here is Parsons.  This is his first motion picture since creating one of the most popular characters on TV with his performance as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory.  However, that puts him in a tough spot because people want to know if he can play a different kind of character or if he'll be forever known as the eccentric, deadpan genius of the CBS show.  Otherwise, he'll just Cosmo Kramer himself into oblivion after the series is over.  Should that be the case, I presume Parsons will have the foresight of not unintentionally falling into a pile of racism.