Virginia Madsen
may join Joel Schumacher's latest

Sideways star Virginia Madsen is in talks to play Jim Carrey's wife in The Number 23, a psychological thriller from gay director Joel Schumacher. Elisabeth Shue had been cast in the wife role in November but recently stepped down when she learned she was pregnant. New Line Cinema then entered talks with Nicole Kidman, but a deal was never reached because of scheduling conflicts. The movie begins shooting Monday in Los Angeles.

In the film, Carrey comes across an obscure book titled The Number 23. As he reads it, he becomes increasingly convinced that the book is based on his own life. His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him to the point that he soon realizes that the book forecasts far graver consequences for his life than he could ever have imagined.

Madsen's character is Carrey's wife, who also is a character in the book. Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener) will portray the couple's mutual friend, whom Carrey thinks is after his wife, while Rhona Mitra (Boston Legal) will play a character in the book called Suicide Girl. Madsen was nominated for an Oscar for her work in the art house smash Sideways and next appears opposite Harrison Ford in the thriller Firewall, which opens February 10. (Borys Kit, Reuters)