Variety reports Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) is in talks to join Rian Johnson’s Looper, a futuristic time travel movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. Hit the jump for what we know about the project so far.

Among all the comic book movies, sequels, and general badassery that we’re hoping for in the film landscape of 2012, Looper may be my most anticipated. Johnson has secured a spot on my “favorite directors” list after only two films – 2006′s Brick and 2009′s The Brothers Bloom – and with a cast like this one, I’ve got high hopes for this movie.

The story takes place in the future where killers called “Loopers” send murdered bodies back in time for stationed Loopers to dispose of them – the perfect crime, considering there’s no evidence. But when Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, a Looper in the near future, experiences complications, all bets are off. Bruce Willis will play an older version of the same character as JGL. The Playlist speculates pegs Dano as a killer named Seth, but Variety didn’t mention what role the actor will play.

Johnson has also met and consulted with Shane Carruth, the writer/director of an insanely complex time travel film called Primer, to discuss his vision of time travel and showed Carruth an early draft of the script for what I’ll call “time travel approval.” Johnson has also confirmed that the tone of Looper will be much darker than that of The Brothers Bloom, and stressed the violent nature of the story in recent interviews.

Filming is set to begin early in 2011, and we’ll keep you informed of any updates as they happen. Anybody else excited about this project?

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