Kevin Kline and Emily Watson are likely candidates for the film adaptation of Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile reports Fox News.

It now also seems that the playwright will star in the film as well. Husband and-wife actors Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon have also been mentioned for the roles of Picasso and his girlfriend.

Fred Schepisi, who is also helming the new Michael Douglas picture starring Bernadette Peters, is set to direct the Martin work for Abandon Pictures. Martin's play, which premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in Oct. 1994, opened Off-Broadway in 1995, garnering 1996 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Off-Broadway Play and Best Playwright. Set at the turn of the century, the comedy concerns a chance meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a French cafe. Both the physicist and the artist attempt to pick up the same young woman, and a comical debate about the nature of true genius ensues.

Stage and screen actor Kevin Kline — who won an Academy Award for his performance in "A Fish Called Wanda" — has also appeared in the films "The Big Chill," "Dave," "In & Out" and "The Anniversary Party." Kline nabbed two Tony Awards for his roles in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century and The Pirates of Penzance. Emily Watson was on screen this season in "Gosford Park" and received Oscar nominations for her work in "Hilary and Jackie" and "Breaking the Wave." The English actress has also appeared in the films "Metroland," "Angela's Ashes" and "The Luzhin Defence."

Comedian-actor Steve Martin, who is best known for his work on TV's "Saturday Night Live" as well as such films as "The Jerk," "Parenthood" and "Fatherhood," has also emerged as a successful playwright and screenwriter. He is currently represented Off-Broadway with The Underpants, which runs through May 12 at the Classic Stage Company.