Carnahan
Reynolds
Marking his first film since "Narc," Joe Carnahan will direct his script "Smokin' Aces" for Working Title and Universal.
Carnahan is casting the drama for an October start date, with Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven and Alicia Keys in talks to star and Ben Affleck planning a small role. Working Title's Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Liza Chasin will produce.
Reynolds will play an FBI agent supervising a manhunt for a standup comedian (Piven) who has decided to squeal on the mob. Before he heads off into protective custody, the comic goes for one last hurrah in the casinos at Tahoe, drawing a crowd of assassins.
Reynolds is coming off "Amityville Horror," while Piven takes the film after his Emmy-nominated work as Hollywood talent agent Ari Gold in the HBO series "Entourage."
If talks work out, the multi-Grammy winner Keys would make her screen starring debut as an assassin. She's been in high demand, with a deal at Sony to play piano prodigy Philippa Schuyler in a pic based on the Kathryn Talalay book "Compositions in Black and White."
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