IGN is reporting that Monty Python's very own John Cleese has joined Scot Derrickson's sci fi remake The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The film stars Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates and Jaden Smith. Cleese is said to be playing physicist Dr. Barnhardt, a Nobel Prize laureate who plays a key part in figuring out the mission and meaning of the arrival of the alien Klaatu (Reeves).

The film is currently shooting in Vancouver and will be released December 12th, 2008.