John Cusack cast in THE PAPERBOY

John Cusack has joined the cast of the upcoming Lee Daniels (Precious) drama The Paperboy. Cusack joins Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey and Nicole Kidman. Cusack is replacing Tobey Maguire, who recently had to drop out of the project. Efron and McConaughey play a pair of brothers  who work together to save the life of a death row inmate played by Cusack, after a woman played by Kidman brings his particular case to their attention.

Here's the official description of the book:

The sun was rising over Moat County, Florida, when Sheriff Thurmond Call was found on the highway, gutted like an alligator.  A local redneck was tried, sentenced, and set to fry.

Then Ward James, hotshot investigative reporter for the Miami Times, returns to his rural hometown with a death row femme fatale who promises him the story of the decade.  She's armed with explosive evidence, aiming to free--and meet--her convicted "fiancÚ."

With Ward's disillusioned younger brother Jack as their driver, they barrel down Florida's back roads and seamy places in search of The Story, racing flat out into a shocking head-on collision between character and fate as truth takes a back seat to headline news...