Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery

Joan Cusack, Chris O'Donnell, Julia Ormond and Wallace Shawn are the latest to come on board the Depression-era feature Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery, starring Abigail Breslin in the title role. They join previously cast Stanley Tucci, Jane Krakowski and Glenne Headly. Also cast in the project are young actors Max Thieriot, Madison Davenport, Zach Mills and Willow Smith. HBO Films held open casting calls in several cities for the roles of some of Kit Kittredge's friends.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery, the first theatrical adaptation of the popular American Girl line of dolls, tells the story of Kit Kittredge (Breslin), a clever, resourceful 10-year-old growing up in Cincinnati during the Great Depression who helps her mother (Ormond) run a boardinghouse when her father (O'Donnell) loses his job. Cusack will play a nurse who moves into the Kittredges' boardinghouse. Thieriot will play a boy accused of committing robberies, while Shawn will play the editor in chief of the Cincinnati Reporter Register.

Patricia Rozema is set to direct the film from a screenplay by Ann Peacock.