Just a year ago, things were not looking up for Ryan Reynolds. Green Lantern, the actor’s major jump into the superhero world landed with a thud, and he even failed to make audiences and critics laugh with The Change-Up. But like most big names in Hollywood, he has found other work, with this year’s successful Safe House and the always bankable genre of animation with the upcoming Turbo and The Croods. According to Deadline, he’s now set for one of his most promising roles in quite some time.

As Atom Egoyan is currently wrapping production on his West Memphis 3 film Devil’s Knot, the director has his sights set on his next project. He’s grabbed Reynolds to lead a psychological thriller  titled Queen of the Night. David Fraser‘s script was hatched from an idea by Egoyan, which sees Reynolds as “a father who discovers a series of disturbing clues eight years after his daughter is abducted” and “a trail that leads him to believe the now 17-year old girl is alive.”

While Chloe was a disappointment, Egoyan remains one of the more promising directors in the independent world, especially with the masterful A Sweet Hereafter. If he can take what looks to be a generic-sounding thriller and provide his knack for character and distinct visual touch, this could be better then most entries in the genre. We’ve seen Reynolds try out smaller films in Buried and The Nines, proving to be a skilled actor, so let’s hope he can carry that through here.

Production begins early next year in Canada.

What do you think about Egoyan and Reynolds coming together?