Andrew Garfield to Star in Ramin Bahrani's '99 Homes'

Shortly before his death, Roger Ebert gave a final, touching interview with Man Push Cart director Ramin Bahrani, a filmmaker the renowned critic showed a deep respect for. It was at that time Bahrani revealed his next film would be 99 Homes, another small scale drama centered on a uniquely American experience, dealing with our current economic crisis. For his last film, the powerful heartland drama At Any Price, Bahrani managed to make a real actor out of Zac Efron. The challenge shouldn't be quite as steep this time, as Bahrani has secured Andrew Garfield as his next lead.

Although he'll be webslinging as Spider-Man for the next few years, Garfield has found time in his schedule to tackle the sort of indie project that helped make him a star to begin with. Bahrani has previously said the film would bet set in Orlando, Florida, and follow Dennis Nash (Garfield), a man who is evicted from his home along with his mom and son by Mike Carver, a gun-toting real estate broker. In a desperate attempt to get his home back, Dennis agrees to work for Mike, getting an inside look at the corrupt housing industry.

It's good to see Garfield isn't content to rest on playing superheroes for the rest of his career, and is still looking to take on films that are challenging in a completely different way. Production on 99 Homes begins later this year, and personally I can't wait to see how the rest of the cast shapes up.