Screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) is ready to make his directorial debut with the Chicago crime thriller Violent Talent.  Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) has signed on to star---Margot Robbie (Pan Am), Tony Kebbell (War Horse), and Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) will take supporting roles.  Per Deadline, Carnahan's script centers on "Eamon (Hedlund) as he and his two oldest friends Angel and Quan (Kebbell and Ahmed) try to build a criminal empire in a contemporary Chicago where he feels crime might be the most honest job around."

Hedlund is from the Midwest (Minnesota), but I find it curious to cast two Brits (Kebbell, Ahmed) and an Aussie (Robbie) around him when the setting is so heavily accented.  Better to surround him with good actors than good accents, though, and I like what I've seen of Kebbell, Ahmed, and Robbie.  Plus, Robbie's American accent was good enough for me in Pan Am and, more importantly, good enough for Martin Scorsese to cast her as the female lead in The Wolf of Wall Street.  Carnahan's work will next be seen (amid rewrites) in World War Z, opening June 26.