Shia LaBeouf in John Grisham thriller THE ASSOCIATES

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Paramount Pictures are banking on Shia LaBeouf once again, giving the young star of DISTURBIA, TRANSFORMERS 1 and 2 and INDY IV - the lead role in a new John Grisham thriller. The movie is THE ASSOCIATES and it's based on Grisham's first legal thriller novel in three years when it's published in January.

LaBeouf will play a student who's about to graduate from Yale Law School when he's manipulated into accepting a job at a prestige law firm and given privileged information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAILER FOR THE ASSOCIATES NOVELLorenzo di Bonaventura is producing. He got a copy of the book whilst in the Middle East with TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN and loved it. He talked to LaBeouf on set and they bonded over the story and a deal was quickly done according to Variety. di Bonaventura has previously produced the Grisham thrillers A TIME TO KILL and THE CLIENT. Grisham himself says the lead character in this one most closely resembles Tom Cruise's character in Grisham's thriller THE FIRM. Perfect kind of material for LaBeouf, the sort of thriller that Ben Affleck showed his great acting chops at the turn of the century. I'm much more excited for seeing Shia in this kind of film then the blockbusters he has been doing lately.