Spider Woman

Now that she's a mom, it's apparently time for Julia Roberts to start making kids' movies. Her next film gig is likely to require little time away from the twins, just a few hours in a recording studio. Paramount announced that she'll play the title character in its live-action adaptation of E.B. White's kid-lit classic Charlotte's Web. Roberts will voice the part of the barnyard spider-turned-publicist who helps save piglet Wilbur's bacon by weaving some judiciously chosen adjectives into her web. No word on who will voice the part of Wilbur, though the rest of the barnyard creatures will be voiced by an all-star cast that includes Oprah Winfrey and Cedric the Entertainer as geese, Reba McEntire and Kathy Bates as cows, Andre 3000 and Thomas Haden Church as crows, and John Cleese as Samuel the Sheep. Steve Buscemi voices the key role of Templeton the rat. Dakota Fanning will play Wilbur's human friend, Fern. Cowriting the screenplay is Susannah Grant, the scribe behind Roberts' Oscar-winning performance in Erin Brockovich. Director Gary Winick (13 Going on 30) begins shooting the film at the end of January in Australia.