Michael Keaton will be seen on screen almost a year to the day when José Padilha's RoboCop reboot blasts into theaters, but Keaton has signed on for another high profile action film with the same release date.  Reports have Keaton joining DreamWorks' Need for Speed adaptation starring Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper.  The Scott Waugh picture is based off of the Electronic Arts streetracing game.  Also starring Imogen Poots, Kid Cudi, Ramon Rodriguez, Rami Malik andHarrison Gilbertson, Need for Speed (and RoboCop) opens February 7, 2014.  Hit the jump for more details on Keaton's role.

Heat Vision reports that Keaton will play a "reclusive and eccentric host of an underground supercar race where he invites the best drivers from around the world."  The Need for Speed adaptation, written by John Gatins (Flight), centers on "a local street racer (Paul) who partners with a rich and arrogant business associate (Cooper), only to find himself framed by his colleague and sent to prison. After his stint in the joint, he joins a New York-to-Los Angeles race to get revenge. But when the ex-partner learns of the scheme, he puts a massive bounty on the racer’s head, forcing him to run a cross-country gauntlet of illegal racers in all manner of supercharged vehicles."

Keaton recently wrapped on RoboCop, in which he replaced Hugh Laurie and plays the villainous CEO Raymond Sellars. Keaton was also recently announced as voicing a Ken doll in directors John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton's Toy Story 4 and will appear in Larry David's HBO comedy series Clear History.