Justin Long is booting up his big-screen career by taking a role in Robert Redford's next directorial outing 'The Conspirator,' a historical drama starring James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn.The film centers on Mary Surratt, who owned the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met to plan the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and was the lone woman tried as a conspirator in the president's murder. Wright Penn plays Surratt while McAvoy takes on the role of Col. Frederick Aiken, who defended her before a military tribunal.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Long will play a soldier who lost a limb in the Civil War and is McAvoy's best friend and conscience. The boyish-looking actor, best known as a "the Mac Guy" in Apple's TV commercials (and also as "Drew Barrymore's Guy" in real life), is slowly but surely building up his movie career, getting good notices for roles in 'Accepted,' 'Live Free or Die Hard' and 'Drag Me to Hell.'
The dramatic turn in 'The Conspirator,' which begins shooting in Georgia this month, will be a departure for Long and will allow the actor to stretch his wings. His forte has been comedy and horror roles, including the just-completed romantic comedy 'Going the Distance' with on-again girlfriend Drew Barrymore, the supernatural thriller 'After.Life' starring Liam Neeson and the coming-of-age comedy 'Youth in Revolt.'
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