After acting newcomer Suraj Sharma grabbed the Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi lead last year, a trio of international actors joined the project, but we haven’t heard much since. Variety reports we now have a big star.

Tobey Maguire has joined the adaptation of Yann Martel‘s bestseller. He will play the writer that interviews Sharma’s character about “his life-changing experience.” After working with Lee on The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil, Maguire went on to star in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy, but has taken it easy as of late. He appeared in Brothers two years ago, and will be seen in the dark comedy The Details, which premiered at Sundance He’ll also take on Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and possibly Ben Affleck, shooting this summer.

Gerard Depardieu, Adil Hussain and Bollywood actress Tabu also star in the film scripted by Finding Neverland‘s David Magee. It is billed as a “large-scale, all-audience” fantasy adventure and “tells the story of a boy who is lost at sea for 227 days in a lifeboat with three unusual and increasingly hungry companions — a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan. He’s left stranded in the tiny boat after the ship carrying his family and his family’s zoo sinks, and must find a way to survive.”

Life of Pi will hit theaters in 3D on Dec. 14th, 2012.

What do you think about the addition of Maguire? Were you a fan of the book?