Dylan McDermott has been busy trying to keep his family together while living in a thoroughly haunted house over on FX's American Horror Story, but he's still making space in his schedule for a new feature project. Deadline says that McDermott has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming Jay Roach political comedy, Dog Fight. He'll play a consultant to a Zach Galifianakis' character, a candidate running for a South Carolina congressional seat.

Jay Roach (Little Fockers) is directing the comedy about the showdown between vying congressional candidates. McDermott joins a cast that already includes Will Ferrell and Jason Sudeikis as well as Galifianakis. Eastbound & Down's Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell penned the screenplay, originally titled Southern Rivals.

Political humor can be tricky, but with this cast I have a feeling it's going to be aiming for broad comedy rather than cutting satire. The nice thing about setting it at the congressional level, rather than revolving around, say, a presidential election, is that the movie can more easily take stabs at the inherent ridiculousness of much of the political process, without targeting a specific party and risking alienating a good chunk of the audience. Let's face it: there's a lot to laugh at in the political arena, regardless of who you cast your last vote for.

Dog Fight is set to start shooting next month, and is slated for release on August 10th, 2012. You can see McDermott in American Horror Story, airing Wednesday nights on FX.