Ben Affleck's latest acting job was actually for himself, as he took a leading role in his third directorial effort, Argo, which comes to theaters this fall. But the actor-turned-pretty-impressive-director apparently hasn't given up on working for other people either, and has signed on to star opposite Justin Timblerake-- another guy who changed from one successful career to another-- in Runner Runner, a thriller set in the world of illegal online gambling.
The Variety report doesn't specify the roles the two will play, or even what kind of movie this might wind up being, but we can take a lot of hints from the writers and director attached. The script came from Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who co-wrote Rounders, Runaway Jury, Ocean's Thirteen and…. The Girlfriend Experience? We'll just toss out that outlier for now and assume this will be in straightforward thriller territory, a theory that get's even more support from the selection of Brad Furman as director. His first feature was The Take, a movie I have never heard of that boasts a crushingly generic poster, but his second effort was last year's The Lincoln Lawyer, a surprisingly satisfying legal thriller that seemed to promise many good things from him in the future.
But back to Affleck and Timberlake… both of them have spent more time making their names with slightly more prestigious fare, Affleck in his own movie The Town and the upcoming Terrence Malick drama, and Timberlake in The Social Network, at least until he starred in Friends with Benefits and In Time and tarnished that reputation a little. I wouldn't have expected to see either of them sign on to a straightforward gambling thriller, but both of them might add something a little more interesting to the formula. Furman got Matthew McConaughey to give his best star performance in years with The Lincoln Lawyer-- can Affleck and Timberlake pull off the same feat?
