Fox has found its Brandt Joel.
Wilfred's Chris Klein has been tapped to play a character based on the top WME talent agent in Fox's untitled Mark Wahlberg-Steve Levinson presentation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
Based on Nikki Joel's tell-all blog LifestyleLemonaid.com about her outrageous marriage to Joel, Klein will play Brad opposite Breaking In's Erin Richards' Jackie.
STORY: 'Breaking In's' Erin Richards to Play Top WME Agent's Wife in Fox Pilot Presentation
The project, which landed at Fox with a pilot-presentation order in September after two years at HBO, centers on a thirtysomething mother, wife and friend. In the Fox adaptation, Brad is a 36-year-old who is described as feeling and acting like America's last real man. He's an ex-Navy man who still sports the crew cut and now works as a construction foreman. He's playful, can't hold his booze and adores his wife Jackie, even if she can be a handful.
Desperate Housewives' Jordon Nardino will pen the script and executive produce alongside Wahlberg, Levinson, Nikki Joel and Wayne Carmona, with production due to begin in mid-November for a Los Angeles shoot.
HBO will handle production on the comedy.
The casting comes after Klein has been recurring on FX comedy Wilfred, which is awaiting word on its third season (a renewal is expected) and mere weeks after he guest starred on Fox's Raising Hope.
Klein, whose credits also include the American Pie franchise, is repped by ICM Partners, Brillstein and Sloane Offer.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
