Earlier this year, Andrew Haigh’s quietly powerful film 45 Years, about a long-time married couple’s disintegrating marriage, was nominated for a BAFTA and garnered star Charlotte Rampling an Oscar nod. Haigh’s new passion project is directing and writing the screenplay adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s 2010 novel, Lean On Pete. Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi (HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) has now been cast in the film. Deadline first reported the news.

The novel centers on 15 year-old Charley Thompson who moves with his father from Spokane, WA to Portland, Oregon. Charley takes a job with eccentric Del Montgomery (Buscemi) at the nearby racetrack. When his home situation goes terribly awry, Charley runs away with Lean on Pete, a stolen racehorse. Together they embark on a journey filled with adventure to find Charley’s long-lost aunt and possibly a new home.

The feature will be produced by The Bureau’s Tristan Goligher and co-financed by Film4.

Buscemi most recently starred in Louis C.K.’s limited series Horace and Pete. He is currently filming Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Death Of Stalin, and has joined the voice cast of DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby alongside Alec Baldwin (Concussion), late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising).