Cast, date announced for Jerry Seinfeld's animated bee movie

Posted Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 4:24 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

Jerry Seinfeld has been laying low from TV and the movies after the end of his sitcom in 1998. That will all change in 2007 when Jerry becomes an animated bee.

Seinfeld has co-written Bee Movie, the computer animated tale of a New York City honeybee named Barry B. Benson who becomes outraged by human's consumption of honey. Barry decides to sue humans for stealing honey from the bees. Seinfeld will provide the voice of the lead character and Renee Zellweger will voice his girlfriend, Vanessa.

Also supplying their voices are Uma Thurman, Robert Duvall, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, Kathy Bates, Eric Idle, William H. Macy, Tim Blake Nelson, Alan Arkin, and Patrick Warburton -- yes, Puddy from Seinfeld. Matthew Broderick is also in negotiations to join the cast.

The film will be co-directed by Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith. DreamWorks Animation will release Bee Movie on Nov. 2, 2007 -- nearly six months after their release of Shrek 3 on May 18.