Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, is better known for directing television episodes than feature films, but that may soon change thanks to his political comedy, Grassroots. The film, which is an adaptation of Phil Campbell's memoir Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics, had already assembled an interesting little cast, but its two latest members have locked it down as 'keep an eye on this one' film for me: DC Pierson (one of the founding members of Derrick Comedy, star of Mystery Team, and author of The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To) and Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, The L Word).

The Wrap (via Film School Rejects) tells us the two comedians are joining Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore, Lauren Ambrose, Tom Arnold, Cedric the Entertainer, Christopher McDonald and Emily Bergl. Biggs will play Campbell, an ex-reporter who agrees to run his eccentric friend's (Moore) campaign for a seat on the Seattle City Council. Ambrose will be filling in as Biggs' girlfriend, Smulders a skeptic of Moore's absurd campaign, Arnold as a supportive bartender, and the Entertainer as the incumbent Moore is gunning for.

I haven't read Campbell's memoir, but the Amazon descriptions of the stories the author recounts have bumped it to the top of my to-read pile. The Wrap doesn't peg who Pierson (who doesn't spend enough time in front of the camera, if you ask me) is playing, but personally I'm hoping it's Campbell's roommate, described by Publisher's Weekly as an "off-center alcoholic with a new handgun he can't stop playing with."