Envy, Ben Stiller And Jack Black, Greenlighted

DreamWorks has closed a deal with Castle Rock that gives a greenlight to "Envy," a comedy that will shoot in July with Barry Levinson directing and Ben Stiller and Jack Black starring, reports Variety.

The duo play lifelong best friends and neighbors whose relationship takes a nasty turn when one of them (Black) becomes filthy rich by selling an invention. It drives his pal (Stiller) crazy with jealousy.

The project had been developed by Castle Rock at Warner Bros. for several years, after "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David set it there as a pitch he hatched with screenwriter Steve Adams. WB let it go because it could not agree on a budget that Levinson would need to make the film.

Several studios stepped up when Castle Rock's Martin Shafer and UTA reps for Levinson, Stiller and Black shopped the package, which has a budget around $40 million, including a salary for Stiller said to be in the range of $10 million against healthy gross participation.

David will exec produce, and the comedy will be produced by Levinson and his Baltimore/Spring Creek partner Paula Weinstein.

The emergence of DreamWorks as the financier of the film is more than a mild surprise, given the highly publicized acrimony Levinson directed at the studio over its handling of "An Everlasting Piece," the Irish comedy about hairpiece salesman. The film barely registered a blip in the marketplace, and Levinson was outspoken about his contention that the film was marketed poorly.