Once, in O Brother Where Art Thou, he thought John Turturro was a toad. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Tim Blake Nelson is joining the cast of Everybody Loves Whales, Ken Kwapis' true story which already stars Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski.

Based on Tom Rose's non-fiction tome Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event, the film recounts the story of the three whales that became trapped under the ice in the arctic circle. This was 1988, with the Cold War not yet thawed, but the US and Russia co-operated on the rescue effort which involved ice-breaking ships from both continents, and helicopters dropping giant concrete blocks. Onto the ice, not the whales. That wouldn't have made for a feel-good family movie.

Nelson, who's recently been directing Leaves of Grass with his Incredible Hulk co-star Ed Norton, will play a wildlife expert, alongside Barrymore's Greenpeace volunteer and Krasinski's small-town journalist (who breaks the international story). Kristen Bell is also on hand as an LA-based reporter, and the director is Ken Kwapis, who was behind several episodes of the Office (yay!), Licence to Wed and He's Just Not That Into You (er...).

The script is by Michael Begler and Jack Amiel, and the film, which is either called Everybody Loves Whales or just Whales, depending on what you read (it's even listed twice at the IMDb) starts shooting in the autumn.