After working together on “Argo,” Chris Messina is in negotiations to join Ben Affleck again in Warner Bros.’ Prohibition-era crime drama “Live By Night,” TheWrap has learned.
Affleck has had his eye on Messina to play his best friend for two years, as TheWrap sent its first inquiry about the potential reunion back in July 2013. Production was delayed in the wake of “Gone Girl” and Affleck’s casting as Batman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana and Elle Fanning will co-star in the film, which Affleck and his Pearl Street partner Jennifer Todd are producing with Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way partner Jennifer Davisson Killoran. Production is expected to start in November.
Best known for “The Mindy Project,” Messina can currently be seen in Joe Swanberg’s “Digging For Fire.” “Live By Night” also represents Messina’s first studio movie since “Argo,” as he has been busy working on indies such as “Manglehorn” and “Cake,” and directing “Alex of Venice” starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Messina is represented by WME.