Brendan Fraser likes to alternate the serious stuff with the family fare, so he'll be gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow for the former with the news that Fraser is set to star in Neil LaBute's Seconds of Pleasure. He joins the already-cast Kristin Scott Thomas, with Colin Firth and Ed Harris also considering offers.

With all the Dudley Do Rights and Mummys and Furry Vengeances it's easy to forget how good Fraser can be when he gets a role to really grab hold of. If you don't believe us, pay Gods and Monsters a revisit.

LaBute, on the other hand, will forever have to live down The Wicker Man, but In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours remain stonking pieces of excoriating adult drama, and his popular work in the last couple of years (Lakeview Terrace, the US remake of Death at a Funeral) has also been strong.

Nothing is on record about Seconds of Pleasure yet, other than its being "a drama", but the signed and mooted cast suggests a weight that Fraser would have missed had he signed on for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to Journey to the Centre of the Earth. He pulled out of that one when, it seems, New Line backed away from his already-agreed fee for returning (Dwayne Johnson replaced him). We don't imagine he'll be getting $15m from LaBute either, but it's the principle of the thing.

Shooting on Seconds of Pleasure starts in the UK in March, before LaBute heads to Broadway in April to direct Julia Stiles in Fat Pig.