It’s a been a while since Vince Vaughn truly stepped outside his comfort zone. Oh sure, he was very briefly in “Into The Wild,” but for the past decade he’s been phoning it in with films like “The Break Up,” “Fred Claus,” “Couples Retreat” and this year’s “The Dilemma,” so color us very pleasantly surprised by his next….roll of the dice.
Deadline reports that Wes Mantooth is joining Stephen Frears‘ gambling pic “Lay The Favorite.” Based on the Beth Raymer gambling memoir, the story adapted by D.V. DeVincentis (”High Fidelity,” “Grosse Pointe Blank”) follows the rise of Internet gambling and off-shore sports betting through the story of a woman (Rebecca Hall, playing Beth) in her 30s who becomes involved with a group of fifty-something math geeks in Queens who have worked out a way to rig the sports books in Vegas. Vaughn will play the role of Rosie — a part previously eyed by Justin Timberlake — a bookie Beth once worked for.
Vaughn joins a pretty first rate cast led by Hall, Bruce Willis, Joshua Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Frank Grillo. No word yet on what it will start shooting, but with the cast looking to be firmly shaping up, it’s likely to be very soon.