It looks like director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) has found an actor to play the villain in his upcoming film, Drive, and it’s a pretty inspired choice.  According to Deadline, Albert Brooks has been cast as Bernie Rose, “a transplanted New York mobster who comes to L.A. and is not to be messed with.”  The film stars Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) as a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver that gets in over his head.  I’m assuming Brooks will play the main baddie after Gosling's character, and I frankly can’t wait to see what Brooks does with the role since this will be the first time the actor/comedian has taken on a character like this.   Other than Brooks, the film has a solid cast going with Gosling, Carey Mulligan (An Education) , and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) all set to star in the film.

Drive will go into production this fall and hit theaters sometime next year.  Meanwhile, Albert Brooks' first novel, 2030: The Real Story of What Happens To America, sees release next May; hit the jump for a synopsis.

Courtesy of Deadline:

[2030: The Real Story of What Happens To America] takes a serious look at what might be happening 20 years in the future, when cancer has been eradicated and life expectancies have been pushed up to 110, making 70 the new middle age. That creates overpopulation and a simmering resentment among twentysomethings who aren’t getting the career opportunities they once did because the older crowd won’t get out of the way. Throw in a cataclysmic natural disaster, and the complications of reaching out to the global community for help, and Brooks has created a storyline much different from any of his movie scripts.