His luxuriant moustache has been known to make grown dictators weep with envy. His penchant for odd children’s names (Pilot Inspektor anyone?) is the envy of celebrity parents the world over. And he still hasn’t played Fletch, despite Kevin Smith’s best efforts. But Jason Lee, lately of My Name Is Earl fame, is about to face his biggest challenge yet, as he signs on to star in Alvin And The Chipmunks.

Yup, the skateboarding star will be playing the Chipmunks’ adoptive father David Seville in the live-action / CG version of the cartoon classic. He’ll be attempting to control the three harmony-singing, helium-voiced, pint-size critters as Simon, Alvin and Theodore make his life a misery (but, y’know, probably he’d be lost without them and will realise that by the end of the film).

Production begins on the film on March 28 for a Christmas release on December 14, and given that director Tim Hill also wrote Garfield 2 expect this not to be a million miles away from that effort, although we hope that Hill’s work on Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie comes more to the fore.

In the meantime, we could get a chance to hear Lee’s dulcet tones in the most exciting film of this or any year, Underdog, in which he plays a superdog (check out the trailer here), due out here in August.