Well-admired character actor Jeff Daniels will star in a thriller entitled "The Lookout" for Disney and Spyglass, a project that will mark the directorial debut of an excellent screenwriter named Scott Frank.

Says The Hollywood Reporter: "Jeff Daniels has signed on to star opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the dramatic thriller "The Lookout" for Spyglass Entertainment Group. Walt Disney Pictures will distribute the film in North America. The story centers on a mentally impaired former athlete (Gordon-Levitt) who works as a janitor at a bank and gets sucked into a heist. Daniels will play Lewis Canfield, a blind ex-biker who becomes an unwilling participant in the heist. Scott Frank, who wrote the screenplay, will make his directorial debut. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in the spring in Canada. "

Although he's appeared in dozens of films, Mr. Daniels is probably best known for titles like "The Purple Rose of Cairo," "Something Wild," "Terms of Endearment," "Arachnophobia," "Speed," "Dumb & Dumber," "Pleasantville," and this year's "The Squid and the Whale." Scott Frank, for his part, is a credited screenwriter on films such as "Dead Again," "Malice," "Little Man Tate," "Get Shorty," "Out of Sight," "Minority Report," "Flight of the Phoenix," and "The Interpreter."