Orlando Bloom to star in "Good Doctor"

LOS ANGELES - Orlando Bloom will play the lead in "The Good Doctor," an indie drama for which Michael Pena, Troy Garity, Courtney Ford, Taraji P. Henson, Rob Morrow and J.K. Simmons are in negotiations to co-star.

Bloom also is one of the producers of the Lance Daly-directed picture. The script by John Enbom ("Veronica Mars"), described as a Hitchcockian thriller, centers on a frustrated doctor trying to impress his superiors and colleagues. When an 18-year-old patient, admitted for a kidney infection, provides him with the esteem he so craves, the doctor tampers with her treatment to keep her at the hospital with him.

Pena will play an orderly who discovers the doctor's budding relationship and blackmails him for prescription painkillers. Garity is cast as a successful, self-assured doctor, a counterpoint to Bloom. Ford plays a woman who has eyes for Bloom's character.

Bloom continues to raise his indie film profile. He stars in Mark Ruffalo's "Sympathy for Delicious," which premiered at Sundance, and has wrapped production on "Main Street." On the London stage, he recently starred in the West End production of "In Celebration."

Pena recently wrapped "The Green Hornet," while Garity has IFC's ensemble film "Mercy" in the can. Ford had a recurring role on Showtime's "Dexter," and Henson appears in "Date Night" with Steve Carell and Tina Fey as well as "The Karate Kid."