In a variation on the adage that every clown wants to play Hamlet, Ben Stiller is turning all serious as a director after making the satires Zoolanderand Tropic Thunder.

Stiller plans to direct Help Me Spread Goodness, "a drama with comedic overtones" telling the story of a Chicago banker who gets swindled in a Nigerian internet scam. And Stiller has replaced Steven Spielberg as the director of the resolutely serious The Trial of the Chicago 7, dealing with anti-Vietnam war protesters arrested at the 1968 Democratic convention. The screenplay is by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing.

Wearing his actor's hat, Stiller remains in comic mode for A Night at the Museum 2, which opens this month. He has been signed for Little Fockers, the sequel to Meet the Parentsand Meet the Fockers, and he joins Reese Witherspoon in Used Guys, a sci-fi comedy set in a world run by women who clone and trade men.