Dustin Hoffman takes role in Barney's Version

Dustin Hoffman has joined the cast of Barney's Version, based on the novel by late Montreal writer Mordecai Richler.

The novel is being made into film directed by Richard J. Lewis and starring Paul Giamatti as Barney.

On Wednesday, producers Serendipity Point announced that Hoffman would be playing Barney's father, a retired cop.

Barney's Version, Richler's final novel, is a rambling memoir about the life of TVproducer Barney Panofsky, centring on the disappearance of his best friend, junkie and literary cult figure Bernard Moskovitch, known as Boogie. Barney is charged with murder in Boogie's disappearance, as he was last seen in the company of Barney's second wife.

Marked with Richler's trademark humour, the novel is to be adapted for the screen by Michael Konyves, who has previously written TV movies such as Fire & Ice and Stormcell.

Principal photography begins in August in Rome.

Serendipity Point's Robert Lantos has made an earlier Richler novel into a film the autobiographical Joshua Then and Now.

Hoffman's most recent commercial release was Last Chance Harvey and he also recently did voice work on Kung Fu Panda.