Shia LeBeouf and Tom Hardy to play bootlegging brothers

Shia LeBeouf and Tom Hardy have signed to star in thriller `The Wettest County in the World`.

The pair will star as the Bondurants, a bootlegging family in the prohibition era who repeatedly run into trouble with the authorities.

Although Shia was previously linked to the project, financing issues meant plans to make the movie - set to be directed by John Hillcoat - had been scrapped earlier this year.

Tom Hardy is a new addition to the cast, which had initially attracted Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams but both departed the project when it was first ditched.

Singer Nick Cave has adapted the screenplay from the novel written by Matt Bondurant with shooting set to begin next year.

The independently-financed project is being produced by the team behind the Jake Gyllenhaal movie `Jarhead` and Angelina Jolie`s Academy Award winning `Girl, Interrupted`.

Along with appearing in `The Wettest County in the World` Shia`s next role will be in the third `Transformers` movie, `Transformers: Dark of the Moon` to be released next year.

`Inception` star Tom has signed up for an unnamed role `The Dark Knight Rises` and is currently shooting the romantic comedy `This Means War` with Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine.

sections: Celebrities