Seeing as it’s been some 13 years since Tim Robbins helmed a feature — it’d be interesting to know how many younger people even knew he had a brief career in the field — something special must be contained within City of Lies. According to THR, the actor will get his fourth feature down with Endgame’s adaptation of the Arthur Phillips-penned Cold War story, which has been scripted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America, Pain and Gain).

The short appeared on a 2007 episode of This American Life, leading host Ira Glass, along with Alissa Shipp, to find himself attached as a producer since 2009. (Philip Noyce was the last signed helmer, in case that means anything to you.) In it, a younger member of the CIA finds himself romantically entangled with a Czech agent — and things can only get knotty from there.

I’ve yet to read Phillips‘ little tome or, for that matter, listen to its depiction on This American Life, but it’s the kind of story I’m particularly pre-disposed to; having also liked Robbins‘ past directorial work, City of Lies has an early vote of confidence from this writer.

Does City of Lies have something good in its DNA?