No doubt exhausted from his recent spate of angel-slaying and vampire-hunting, Paul Bettany is in talks to join Margin Call, the indie financial drama. Simon Baker (TV's The Mentalist, The Killer Inside Me) may also sign to the large ensemble cast, which already includes Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto and Stanley Tucci.

The film is about a single day at an investment bank, just as the perfect storm of the banking crisis hit in 2008. Baker's role would be that of the top-tier securities broker pushing Spacey and co to Always Be Closing (or whatever they do in investment banking). Bettany would be an unshakeably confident trader who keeps on trucking even as the catastrophe worsens.

Superficially there are lots of shades of Glengarry Glen Ross and Boiler Room, but that's no bad thing at all. It's sounding like first-time writer / director JC Chandor and producer Quinto are putting together a strong company, with meaty roles for all, and Bettany's character in particular sounds as if he could be cherishably assholeish.

Shooting begins next week in New York.