Lauren Graham Joins MGM's Family Adventure Movie 'Max' (Exclusive)

Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church and Jay Hernandez are already in the cast.

Parenthood star Lauren Graham is joining the cast of Max, MGM's family adventure from Boaz Yakin.

Yakin co-wrote the script and is directing the picture, which is due to begin shooting in May in North Carolina. Karen Rosenfelt and Ken Blancato are producing.

Max, co-written with Sheldon Lettich, tells of a military dog who is traumatized by his handler's death in Afghanistan and is adopted by the soldier's bereaved family. He bonds with the soldier's troubled 14-year-old brother, and together they begin to heal one another and discover a secret about the soldier's death.

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Josh Wiggins is already cast as the boy, while Thomas Haden Church and Jay Hernandez are also in the movie.

Graham will play the boy's mother, a woman who lost her eldest to war but now has to heal her youngest.

Graham is known for her long-standing television work in such shows as Parenthood and Gilmore Girls but occasionally dips her toe into the feature pool. She last appeared in It's Kind of a Funny Story, the Zach Galifianakis-starring indie from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and will next co-star with Robin Williams and Joel McHale in Merry Friggin' Christmas.

She is repped by ICM Partners, John Carrabino Management and Hansen Jacobson.