Ten years ago, we probably would’ve derided this onscreen pairing as some kind of worst case scenario. In 2012? It’s one most of us can support.

As Variety reports, Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake have been selected to lead Runner, Runner, a thriller that Brad Furman will make his follow-up to last year’s surprise hit, The Lincoln Lawyer. 20th Century Fox are distributing, while New Regency, Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Appian Way, Double Feature, and Stone Village Pictures have boarded as producers.

This is slightly familiar territory for screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien, as the setting — “a $30 billion world of illegal online gambling” — isn’t too far out from their most beloved work, Rounders. (And, if you really want to make a stretch, Ocean’s 13. I think that’s too much of a stretch, actually.) I’d obviously like to know more in the meantime, but what’s been made public, right now, is nonetheless promising. Online illegal gambling is territory I (thankfully) know little-to-nothing about; I’d love for Furman, Koppelman, and Levien to take me into it with some wit and style.

How does Runner, Runner come across at first blush?