Armisen Lending His Voice to NBC’s Animated Special “Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas”

Fred Armisen will be ringin’ (and singin’) in the holiday season.

The 47-year-old half-Venezuelan actor and former Saturday Night Live star has been added to the voice cast of NBC’s animated holiday special Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas.

Fred Armisen

Toplined by The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, the animated special is set to air on December 16 at 8:00 pm ET. Parsons will voice Buddy in the special based on the 2003 film Elf starring Will Ferrell and the hit Broadway show Elf: The Musical.

Santa narrates the story of Buddy’s travels to New York City to meet the father he never knew he had. Along the way his unrelenting cheer transforms the lives of everyone he meets and opens his father’s eyes to the magic of Christmas.

In addition to Armisen and Parsons, the Voice cast also includes Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Jay Leno, Matt Lauer, Gilbert Gottfried, Kate Micucci, Rachael MacFarlane, Max Charles and Steve Higgins.

González Iñárritu Reportedly In Talks to Direct “The Jungle Book”

It appears Alejandro González Iñárritu may be booking a trip to the jungle for his next project…

Warner Bros. is reportedly in early talks with the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker to direct The Jungle Book, a new version of the popular Rudyard Kipling novel about an orphaned boy raised in the wilderness by animals, according to Deadline.com.

Alejandro González Iñárritu

The project is one of the studio’s top priorities, with a script by Callie Kloves, daughter of Harry Potter series scribe Steve Kloves, who is producing the film.

Bur this isn’t the only Jungle Book project in the works…

Disney is pursuing its own live action version of The Jungle Book, recently hiring Elf and Iron Man helmer Jon Favreau to direct the film.

The book is public domain, but as usual the first one to make it into production usually becomes the Tarzan of the jungle.

After several serious dramas including Amores perros, Babel and 21 Grams, Iñárritu recently took on a comedy for his most recent film Birdman, which is wrapping up now.

He’s also attached to the New Regency 1820s frontier revenge tale The Revenant.