Casting And Interfaces - Comparing Object Of Unknown Types

import java.util.*;
public class CommonElements
{
private int comparisons; // number of comparisons made
private Comparable[] arrayToSearch; // current array being traversed
private Comparable[] commonElements = new Comparable[10];
private int arrayPosition = 0; //keeps track of what index to add an element to common at

[Code] ...

I have trying to get this down to the bar minimum. I am trying to cast the desired object array to a array of comparable. This is all required by the assignment.

I am getting a runtime error that I can not perform the desired cast. What do I need to provide the compiler in order to allow for this casting. I can not change the signature of the method however nothing about the class has been specified do I need to implement comparable? Also I don not now what the client is passing so how would I write a generic compareTo method to compare object of unknown types.