File this one away in your "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game: Reese Witherspoon (Mud) and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) are set to team up on screen for Don't Mess with Texas.  Universal won a bidding war for the comedy spec script from screenwriters John Quaintance and David Feeney (Ben and Kate).  Witherspoon will produce with Bruna Papandrea through their Pacific Standard banner along with Dana Fox, who both wrote for and executive produced the recently-canceled Ben and Kate.  The fast-tracked picture is expecting to start production next March.  Hit the jump for more.

Deadline reports that female-driven comedy Don't Mess with Texas will team up a cop and a prisoner on the run in Texas as they're being pursued by a gang of crooked cops.

Witherspoon wil next be seen in director Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot and is currently filming Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice.  Recent additions to her slate include Brian Kirk's sci-fi picture Passengers with Keanu Reeves, Paul Feig's Wish List and Bryan Buckley's Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.

Vergara,  the lady so nice they named her twice, will voice a character in Raja Gosnell's The Smurfs 2, will star in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills and is currently filming Simon West's Heat.