Indie director Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor, The Station Agent, Win Win) is casting some big names for his latest film The Cobbler, with Adam Sandler (The Grown Ups, The Wedding Singer) in the lead.

The Cobbler started as a drama, but has morphed into a character-driven comedy with Cliff Smith, better known by his rapper stage name Method Man, joining the already prestigious cast of Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man, The Graduate, Tootsie), Steve Buscemi (HBO’s Boardwalk Empire), Melonie Diaz (straight from her breakout performance in Fruitvale Station), and the busy Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Fifth Estate), who recently wrapped the Adam Wingard film The Guest, will play a role in the upcoming Night at the Museum 3, and is awaiting a release date for Walk Among The Tombstones with Liam Neeson.

Smith is a Grammy winning artist (Best Rap Performance By a Group or Duo for  “I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By” with Mary J. Blige) and a member of the East Coast Hip Hop Collective Wu Tang Clan. He has starred on TV’s OZ  and The Wire, and is the lead in the upcoming Lucky N#mber. He also had a part in the recently wrapped Staten Island Summer and has a voice role in the upcoming FXX animated comedy Chozen.

Tom McCarthy is co-writing the script for The Cobbler  with Paul Sado (Win Win, Descent) and keeping a tight lip on the storyline, which apparently revolves around cobbler who can rather literally step into other peoples’ shoes after repairing them.  Mary Jane Skalski, who has produced all three of McCarthy’s films is producing with Voltage Pictures.

The Cobbler is presently filming in New York with no release date scheduled as yet.