Gnarly: Carrie Underwood will make her feature film debut in Soul Surfer, an indie drama about Bethany Hamilton, that badass teenage surfer who had her arm chomped off by a shark. Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, and Anna Sophia Robb will also star in the Sean McNamara-directed film, which is based on Hamilton’s autobiography. Robb will play Hamilton, Quaid and Hunt will play her parents and Underwood will play a church group leader. As proud as Carrie must be about this transition into acting, she should know that Taylor beat her to it. [Variety]
House Party: Former Scrubs star Sarah Chalke has landed back at ABC in the network’s pilot Freshman, which comes from Greg Malins, producer of How I Met Your Mother, and Arianna Huffington. The show focuses on a former high power business woman (Chalke) who wins a seat in Congress. Once there, the swirlies from Nancy Pelosi remind her what being a freshman really means. [HR]
Game Time: CBS has picked up a sitcom from hilarious former Daily Show correspondent Rob Riggle. In Team Spitz he will play a high-energy high school football coach. We’re hoping that through the magic of TV he needs to add a young coach to his staff and finds a guy named Riggins. Because two Riggs are always better than one. [HR]
Magic the Sequeling: Disney is planning to have another go at the live-action fairy tale world with a sequel to Enchanted. Jessie Nelson is on board to write the script and Anne Fletcher (The Proposal) will direct. The original cleaned up at the box office, making $340 million internationally and helping give an actress known best as Katy from The Office her big break. [Variety]
The Found Writer: Columbia Pictures has found a writer for the next film in the Da Vinci Code franchise, The Lost Symbol. British scribe Steven Knight will handle the task of bringing this mammoth best-seller to the screen. In the Dan Brown thriller Robert Langdon goes to D.C. to decode the symbols of the Freemasons. Tom Hanks hasn’t signed on to star but he’s expected to. He’s just needs to grow his hair out for a while. [Variety]