Michael Winterbottom nabs Affleck and Alba for next film

British director Michael Winterbottom has yet to really break out in the American box office, but that's probably because he couldn't care less. His films run the gamut from purposefully difficult (A Cock and Bull Story) to pitch dark (The Road to Guantanamo). However, his next picture, The Killer Inside Me, may be just the thing to pick up more than trifling interest stateside.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba have signed on for Killer. Affleck will play a Texas sheriff who goes from bored cop to sociopathic murderer. It's based off a noir-western novel by Jim Thompson, previously adapted into film in 1976. Alba's role as a prostitute is a bit smaller, but last time she played one (Sin City) was pretty stunning. Affleck also played an uber-creepy western character in last year's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and if this film brings out another performance like that from him, it could really be something. 

The Killer Inside Me is set to shoot in early 2009 for a release later in the year. 

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