Collette and Eckhart Sign on for Ball

Given that gay writer Alan Ball's first produced screenplay, American Beauty, took home a whole bushel of Oscars (including one for Ball himself), it's no wonder that the Six Feet Under creator's feature-film directorial debut is garnering interest from some major Hollywood players.

Romeo previously reported that Ball will make his first stab at big-screen directing with Towelhead, about a Lebanese-American teen girl growing up in Texas during the first Gulf War. But now, three of Hollywood's hottest talents have joined the project.

The ever-busy Toni Collette, hunky Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), and Maria Bello (who should have snagged an Oscar nomination for A History of Violence) will all appear in the film, which is slated to start shooting in mid-September.

Look for it in theaters sometime in 2007.