Last we heard, Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck had signed up to star in the thriller “Runner, Runner” with “The Lincoln Lawyer” helmer Brad Furman set to direct. At the time there were few solid details on the plot other than that it would take place in the high stakes world of online gambling, but now Entertainment Weekly is reporting that “Project X” breakout star Oliver Cooper has officially joined the project, signing on to star opposite Timberlake and Affleck.
Cooper is playing a young computer nerd who gets hired along with a Princeton student (Timberlake) to work for an online gambling billionaire (Affleck) based out of Costa Rica, with a less-than-legitimate work ethic. The script (which we've heard is great) comes from David Levien and Brian Koppelman, the duo behind “Rounders,” which also looked at the gambling world, albeit from a different angle. This is obviously a great opportunity for the 22-year-old Cooper, whose only other project at present is “Grown Ups 2,” and it’s hopefully only the beginning.
EW says that production on “Runner, Runner” is likely to start in June.