Barney's Version chooses its 3 wives

Two British actresses and an up-and-coming Canadian have been selected to play the three wives of Barney Panofsky in Barney's Version, the screen adaptation of Mordecai Richler's novel.

Producer Robert Lantos announced Thursday that Minnie Driver and Rosamund Pike will play wives two and three, while young Montreal-born actress Rachelle Lefvre will play wife number one.

Rosamund Pike, who played a Bond villainess in Die Another Day, will take the role Miriam, the true love of conflicted character Barney Panofsky, to be played by Paul Giamatti.

Driver, who has had roles in Good Will Hunting and Will & Grace, is the annoyingly loquacious Mrs. "P," while Lefvre, who was recently seen as a beautiful vampire in Twilight, plays the wife who is a wild, troubled artist.

"I've been looking for this kind of a role," Lefvre said on Friday. "She's extremely damaged and extremely fragile." Herrole in Twilightis, by contrast, a very strong independent character, said Lefvre. who worked with Lantos and Pike on Fugitive Pieces.

"After playing Victoria in Twilight it's really like, it's ferocious in a way I really wanted to go the other way," she said. "I was like, I really want to play someone who just needs protecting and needs saving from herself."

Dustin Hoffman also is in the cast, as Barney's father, a retired cop.

Barney's Version, Richler's final novel, is a rambling and humorous memoir about the life of TV producer Barney Panofsky, revolving around 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.

Toronto director Richard J. Lewis, a veteran of the CSI series, is to helm based on screenplay by Michael Konyves.