MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures, which has scheduled Mike Myers’ new comedy The Love Guru — his first original character since Austin Powers — in a prime summer tentpole position on 20 June, 2008, has announced major casting for the film, which begins production in September in Toronto, Canada.

Joining Myers, who plays Pitka, the “Love Guru,” will be Jessica Alba, who was most recently seen in the blockbuster action sequel The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and will star in the romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck with Dane Cook and the thriller The Eye for Cruise-Wagner Productions.

Other additions to the cast include Romany Malco, who starred in Will Ferrell’s hit comedy Blades of Glory and Judd Apatow’s smash The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Verne (the immortal Mini-Me) Troyer.

The Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment presentation of a Nomoneyfun Films production is directed by Marco Schnabel, who served as second unit director on Austin Powers in Goldmember and Meet the Parents. The screenwriters are Myers and Graham Gordy. The producers are Myers and Michael De Luca. Donald J. Lee, Jr, Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber are the executive producers.

In the comedy, The Love Guru, Pitka is an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child and raised by gurus. He moves back to the US to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality, specializing in settling intimacy issues between couples. His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle a rift between major league star hockey player Darren Roanoke and his estranged wife. After the split, Roanoke’s wife starts dating the star member of a rival team, out of revenge, sending her husband into a major professional skid — to the horror of the team’s owner Jane Bullard and Coach Cherkov. Pitka must return the couple to marital nirvana and get Roanoke back on his game so the team can break the 40-year-old “Bullard Curse” and win the championship.