Josh Gad will take on the role of Roger Ebert in "Russ & Roger," the story of the late film critic's early collaboration with sexploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer.

Will Ferrell earlier signed on to play Meyer, who directed "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," a 1970s cult classic co-written by Ebert when he was still a budding critic, in the comedy from STX Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Described as a raunchy comedy focusing on two outsiders, "Russ & Roger" will be directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Ebert, the movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013, won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, wrote more than 20 books and cohosted popular TV shows with rival Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel with their thumbs-up/thumbs-down reviews.