After playing Napster guru Sean Parker in David Fincher's "The Social Network," it looks like Justin Timberlake is getting ready to go back online, only this time the roll of the dice will be for something other than MP3s.
Variety reports that Timberlake and Ben Affleck will star in the thriller "Runner, Runner" with "The Lincoln Lawyer" helmer Brad Furman to direct. Exact story and character details are not forthcoming just yet, but it will be set in the high stakes world of illegal online gambling. The script comes from writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman, no strangers to playing the odds. The duo wrote "Rounders" which also looked at gambling from another angle, but a lot has changed since 1998 when that film hit theaters. Online gambling has made it possible for almost anyone with an internet connection and some money to spend to make millions all while wearing jogging pants and devouring Cheetos.
It's a tantalizing project, though it remains to be seen when it will roll in front of cameras. Affleck will likely be in post/doing press for "Argo" as it heads into theaters this fall. Meanwhile, Timberlake is going back-to-back on the Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis" and is shooting "Trouble With The Curve" with Clint Eastwood this spring. Of everybody, Furman seems the most open with only a Pablo Escobar biopic brewing in the background. But hell, getting Affleck, Timberlake, Levien and Koppelman together is not a bad start at all. Furman directed a decent potboiler in 'Lawyer,' and this seems like another thriller that could be a cut above. Here's hoping it pulls together soon.
