09.21.2005 11:56 PM EDT

Movie File: Johnny Knoxville…The ‘Jackass’ has a fan in Quentin Tarantino.

Unapologetic “Jackass” junkie Quentin Tarantino has put himself into the Johnny Knoxville business, not only executive producing the actor’s new film “Daltry Calhoun” but hiring him to star in an upcoming version of an Elmore Leonard (“Get Shorty”) crime novel. “Yeah, he’s going to be in ‘Killshot’ as well,” Tarantino said. “It’s really cool.” Knoxville will play an FBI agent alongside Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke in the Tarantino-produced film, but he refused to reveal further details. “Oh, hell, I don’t want to give anything away,” Knoxville laughed. “But I’m very excited to be onboard for the film, and I think we’ll start [in Los Angeles] in a couple weeks.” Tarantino insists that the 2006 release will stay true to the novelist’s trademark mix of violence and humor, saying, “I want it to be as much Elmore Leonard as it possibly can be. I’m a big fan of the book, and the screenwriter did a terrific job of adapting it. I’ve owned this property for a while, so a lot of people have tried to adapt this script, and [Hossein Amini] just nailed it. I think it’s going to be another in a long line of wonderful Elmore Leonard adaptations.” ...

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1510103/09212005/story.jhtml