We always like it when actors we like join projects by directors we like, so this kind of news makes us happy. Over the summer, it was revealed that Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the filmmaking pair behind "Half Nelson" and "Sugar," had lined up their next project. "Mississippi Grind" will find them working with Jake Gyllenhaal, and now another actor who has been more than a familiar face over the past little while has joined as well.
Ben Mendelsohn, who broke out in "Animal Kingdom" as the fearsome Pope Cody, and features in "The Dark Knight Rises," "Killing Them Softly" and the upcoming "The Place Beyond The Pines," has come on board the project. The story centers on a down-on-his-luck gambler (Mendelsohn) facing crushing debt, who teams up with Gyllenhaal's character, a gambling addict, in an attempt to change his luck. The two then set off on a road trip through the South with visions of winning back what has been lost.
No word yet on when it will shot, but considering Mendelsohn is also lined up for Ryan Gosling's directorial debut "How To Catch A Monster," which shoots in the spring, we'd wager the low-budget film will roll in front of cameras in the latter part of 2013. [Variety]