Los Angeles: “Pretty Woman” Julia Roberts, US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey and British comic John Cleese have been enticed into lending their voices to an animated remake of the film “Charlotte’s Web.” The film, to be directed by Gary Winick, is a bid screen adaptation of EB White’s classic children’s book and will feature an all-star cast, led by the Oscar-winning Roberts, producers said Wednesday.

Also lending their voices will be actors Steve Buscemi and Cedric The Entertainer, as well as Kathy Bates, “Sideways” star Thomas Haden Church, singer-actress Reba McEntire and Outkast hip-hop star Andre Benjamin. Roberts will play the lead role of Charlotte A Cavatica, the spider heroine of the book who goes out of her way to save Wilbur the pig’s life by weaving miraculous words into her webs, according to Paramount Pictures. Winfrey will be the voice of Gussy, the barn’s maternal yet irreverent goose, while Cleese will take on Samuel the sheep and Buscemi will voice the barn’s sardonic rat, Templeton.

Filming will begin in Australia on January 31. — AFP