Jason Segel playing 'Bad Teacher' with Cameron Diaz

Jason Segel is going to endure Cameron Diaz's scheming in "Bad Teacher."

Credit: AP Photo

Jason Segel's busy schedule with "How I Met Your Mother" has limited his big screen opportunities since breaking out in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," but he seems to be making the best of his free time.  Segel starred in the solid hit "I Love You Man" last year and will star in the family friendly "Gulliver's Travels" with Jack Black this Fall.  Now, Segel is going back to school with Cameron Diaz in the new comedy "Bad Teacher."

Jake Kasdan ("Orange County") will direct the comedy that finds Diaz playing the "bad" educator who, after being dumped by her boyfriend, decides to go after the staff's most eligible bachelor.  Unfortunately, she'll have to go through Lucy Punch to to get him.  Segel does not play the object of Diaz's eye, but the school's gym teacher.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Michael Higgins has also joined the cast as their boss, the school's principal.

Besides his onscreen roles, Segel will also be heard in the CG animated "Despicable Me" and has been co-writing the screenplay for a new "Muppet Movie."

"Bad Teacher," which is still looking for its leading man, is expected to begin production in late Spring.