Stiller plays Jewish

An all-star cast of Ben Stiller, Jonathan Safran Foer and Alan Alda team up for a new HBO series about a Jewish family in DC

He’s played a rabbi in the movies, and now Ben Stiller’s ready to play Jewish on TV.

The “Night at the Museum” actor has signed on for an HBO series that “revolves around the daily and life-altering dramas of a Jewish family in Washington, DC,” says the Hollywood Reporter. Alan Alda is in talks to join the show, billed as a comedy, in what would be his first regular TV role since “M*A*S*H.”

The as-yet unnamed series boasts an equally impressive line-up behind the scenes, with a pilot episode already penned by “Everything Is Illuminated” author Jonathan Safran Foer. News of the series became public the same day the film adaptation of Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” earned a pair of unexpected Oscar nominations, including one for best picture.

Among the HBO show’s executive producers is Scott Rudin, an Oscar winner for his work on “No Country for Old Men.”