Cast member John Cusack waves at the premiere of ''Hot Tub Time Machine'' in Hollywood, California
Cast member John Cusack waves at the premiere of ''Hot Tub Time Machine'' in Hollywood, California March 17, 2010. The movie opens in the U.S. on March 26. Reuters

John Cusack and Malin Akerman will star in The Numbers Station, which starts shooting in November, Content Film announced Monday night.

Ethan Hawke originally was to star in and produce the thriller.

According to Content, Cusack plays a disgraced black ops agent tasked with a dead-end job of protecting a code operator for an isolated covert CIA broadcast station played by Akerman. His mission is simple: protect the code operator. Keep her safe and secure, whilst knowing that she must never be taken alive...

F. Scott Frazier wrote the script. Frazier is an increasingly hot commodity in Hollywood. In February, he sold a spec script, Line of Sight, to Warner Bros. for Joel Silver to produce.

The Numbers Station will be directed by Kasper Barfoed, the Danish director of Kandidaten (The Candidate), Listetyven (The Performance) and the award-winning children's feature Tempelriddernes skat (The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar).

Cusack starred in 2012, Con Air and Grosse Pointe Blank, among others. Akerman starred in The Proposal, Watchmen and Couples Retreat. She stars in New Line's upcoming musical Rock of Ages.

Content Film International acquired The Numbers Station for worldwide distribution at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Hawke's Under the Influence Productions no longer is attached.

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