Steve Carell Joins 'Freeheld' Replacing Zach Galifianakis

Steve Carell will always be seen as a comedy actor first, but lately he's been branching out and showing he's capable of much more. After his darker turn in The Way Way Back he'll go even further with this season's Oscar-hopeful, Foxcatcher, and for those who prefer the light-hearted Carell there's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. For his next effort he'll weigh into the gay rights debate as part of Peter Sollett's Freeheld.

Carell is replacing Zach Galifianakis in the true-life film, which is based on the 2007 documentary of the same name. Ellen Page and Julianne Moore star as a gay couple who fought to amend the Domestic Partnership Act which grants pension benefits to domestic partners of New Jersey public employees. Galifiankis had to drop out for scheduling reasons, so now Carell will take on the role of  Garden State Equality advocate Steven Goldstein.

Probably not the Crazy Stupid Love reunion of Carell and Moore that we were expecting, but Freeheld promises to be a major film when it opens, especially with a script by Philadelphia writer Ron Nyswaner. [Deadline]