Ben Foster didn’t score a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his creepazoid turn in 3:10 to Yuma (I guess there were just too many creepazoids out there this year), but he’s still seeing his star rise. Now he’s about to take a starring role in The Messengers, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which will mark the directing debut of I’m Not There co-writer Oren Moverman.

Foster will play an Army officer demoted to some crap low-level job, working with a partner he can’t stand. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with a soldier’s widow. And you thought the life of an outlaw in the Old West was tough.

To me, Ben Foster will always be Russell from Six Feet Under, the depressed and lonely and unstable art student who finally snapped Claire out of her streak of dating losers. But I’m glad to see his career taking off, even if he seems to be gaining a reputation for playing creeps. Playing an Army officer seems like a bold new step for the scrawny actor, and it’ll be interesting to see if this gets him the fame he seems to be aiming for.