Ryan Phillippe has signed on to star alongside Bruce Willis and Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson in the new action heist film ‘Set Up’. The actor, who is trying to revive his career after last spring’s ‘SNL’-spin-off, ‘MacGruber,’ flopped at the box office, is also joined by ‘Step Up’s Jenna Dewan Tatum.

‘Set Up’ began shooting this week in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is being directed by Mike Gunther. Not much has been revealed yet about the script, which was co-written by Gunther and Mike Behrman. But the plotline is supposed to focus on a group of friends who are thrust into a deadly diamond heist. Phillippe is reportedly taking over the role Paul Walker, who starred in last summer’s heist film ‘Takers,’ was previously considered for.

While he began garnering mainstream attention in the 1990s, Phillippe’s acting career never took off the same way his ex-wife, Reese Witherspoon’s, did. While he starred in the Oscar-winning ‘Crash’ and the teen/young adult favorites ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ and ‘Cruel Intentions,’ none of his films have ever earned more than $80 million at the box office. Rumors are already circulating, however, that ‘Set Up’ can help surge Phillippe’s career.

Written by: Karen Benardello

Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe

By Karen Benardello

As a graduate of LIU Post with a B.F.A in Journalism, Print and Electronic, Karen Benardello serves as ShockYa's Senior Movies & Television Editor. Her duties include interviewing filmmakers and musicians, and scribing movie, television and music reviews and news articles. As a New York City-area based journalist, she's a member of the guilds, New York Film Critics Online and the Women Film Critics Circle.

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