"Mars" star Bell books trip to "Rome"

By Borys Kit and Carolyn Giardina

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Kristen Bell, the former star of TV series "Veronica Mars," has signed on to the Disney romantic comedy feature "When in Rome."

She will play a love-starved New York curator who steals magical coins from a famous Roman fountain but soon finds herself in a bizarre situation when she is pursued back to New York by a band of aggressive suitors -- the very people whose coins she took.

The studio is looking at a mid- to late-April start.

"Rome" marks a new genre for its director, Mark Steven Johnson, who is better known for such comic-book adaptations as "Ghost Rider" and "Daredevil."

Bell, meanwhile, will next been seen in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which opens in theaters in April.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter