Steve Carell aiming to have a 'Very Bad Day' in new book adaptation

Steve Carell arrives at the 2012 Screen Actor's Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

Credit: AP Photo/Vince Bucci

Future "Anchorman 2" co-star Steve Carell is aiming to get a little more kid-friendly with his next potential career effort, a role in writer/director Lisa Cholodenko's ("The Kids Are All Right") adaptation of the classic Judith Viort children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

According to Deadline, Carell is currently negotiating with 20th Century Fox to star in the unspecified role of "Ben" (Alexander's father?) in the upcoming film, which is based on the 1972 tome that follows a young boy as he's beset by one calamity after another during a single day. Cholodenko co-wrote the screenplay with Rob Lieber.
 
"Alexander and the Terrible..." was previously adapted into a half-hour animated HBO special in 1990. Viorst wrote several follow-ups to the book.

Carell has been on a tear as of late. In November he attached himself to star in two projects - an adaptation of the Dave Barry/Alan Zweibel novel "Lunatics" for Universal, and the action-comedy "Conviction" for Warner Bros. He also has no less than two films lined up for release this year - the apocalyptic comedy "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" with Keira Knightley (June 22) and the marriage comedy "Great Hope Springs" opposite Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones (August 10). He recently completed filming on the magician comedy "Burt Wonderstone" co-starring Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi and Olivia Wilde.

Anyone remember having this book read to them as a child? Ideas who the character of "Ben" might be (possibly a new character not featured in the book)? Sound off in the comments!