Seth Rogen seems to be slowly falling from the comedic deity cloud he was living on during 2007 and 2008. That doesn’t mean he’s losing his game, just that, like Will Ferrell before him, he’s no longer the do-no-evil comedy actor/writer that we knew before. But that’s not slowing him down at all.

Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Judd, Rogen will take a seat in the producer’s chair for a new untitled movie about a young guy who finds out he has cancer. Now THR reports that Rogen has found his guy: James McAvoy. McAvoy will play the lead in the flick, a character based on writer Will Reiser’s own experiences with fighting cancer.

Having only seen McAvoy’s dramatic roles, it’s hard to say how McAvoy fits into something that will lean more towards comedy, but he definitely has the acting chops to pull off the heavier stuff that the role will definitely call for. So far, Rogen and company (he’ll share producing duties with his friend Evan Goldberg and Ben Karlin) seem to be putting together a pretty interesting crew for this project. If all goes well, Apatow may be looking at an awkward student-becomes-the-teacher moment.