Kyle Chandler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bob Odenkirk, and Andre Royo have joined James Ponsoldt's indie flick The Spectacular Now.  The quartet of talented actors has joined a rapidly expanding cast that also includes Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, Masam Holden, and Dayo Okeniyi.  The coming-of-age story is based on the novel by Tim Tharp, and follows a live-for-the-moment high school senior (Teller) who develops a relationship with a "mercurial introvert" (Woodley).  At first, it sounds like the painful garbage of stuff like The Art of Getting By and Restless, but then the synopsis gets interesting: "As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, saving and corrupting, become inextricably blurred."  It sounds like this movie could go to some dark, interesting places that quirky coming-of-age indies avoid like the plague.  Then again, screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber's (500) Days of Summer was twee beyond belief, and was only saved by Marc Webb's direction and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance.

Hit the jump for details on who the new cast members will be playing.

According to Variety, "Chandler will play Teller's dad, while Winstead will play his sister. Royo will play Teller's teacher and Odenkirk will play his boss. Holden will play Teller's friend, while Dever will play Woodley's friend."

Based on that line-up of roles, it seems the movie is more from the perspective of Teller's character than Woodley's, but I'm curious to see how it all plays out.  And as I said before, this is a particularly strong cast, so I'm eager to see everyone work together.

Here's the synopsis for the Tim Tharp's The Spectacular Now:

SUTTER KEELY. HE’S the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He’ll get everyone in your parents’ pool. Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O., life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.

Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go

forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever. [Amazon]