The casting for Burt Wonderstone really does seem to be coming in quickly now. Just a few days ago, we got the fantastic news that James Gandolfini is in talks to join the film, led by Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. And only a few days before that, we heard that the short list for the female lead included Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Judy Greer, Jessica Biel, and Sarah Silverman, which has since been cut down to focus just on Wilde and Silverman (my vote is personally with Wilde).

Variety are now reporting that Steve Buscemi is in talks to join the project too, and would play Carell’s old magician partner who decides to give up their longstanding partnership in Vegas:

“Buscemi has been offered the role of Anton, a Las Vegas magician who’s the longtime friend and partner of the title character, played by Carell. After being injured by Burt during their “Hotbox” trick, he decides to quit the act and teach magic in the Far East. When a hot-shot street magician (Carrey) starts coming on strong, Burt must convince Anton to return to the stage. Gandolfini co-stars as a billionaire who owns the casino where Burt and Anton perform their show, while Olivia Wilde and Sarah Silverman are being eyed for the female lead as the duo’s magic assistant.”

Buscemi has of course already worked alongside Gandolfini on The Sopranos, and has been making an even bigger name for himself in the leading role of Nucky Thompson on Boardwalk Empire, which won him a Golden Globe this year.

30 Rock’s Don Scardino is going to be directing, with the original spec script coming from Chad Kultgen, and re-writes being done first by Horrible Bosses scribes John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and most recently by Oscar-nominated Jason Reitman (Up in the Air).

This certainly sounds like something we should be looking forward to, and with production scheduled to begin in January, during Buscemi’s Boardwalk Empire hiatus, it hopefully won’t be too far into 2013 when Burt Wonderstone will be getting its release. More news as we get it.