Casey Affleck finally seems destined to transcend his reputation as “the younger Affleck,” now that he’s scored an Oscar nomination for his work in The Assassination of Jesse James… and gotten more acclaim for his part in brother Ben’s Gone Baby Gone. Now Affleck will be re-teaming with his producer from Baby, Sean Bailey, for the period noir drama The Kind One.

reports that the movie, set in the classic noir milieu of 1930s Los Angeles, finds Affleck as an amnesiac who goes to work for a sadistic mob boss and then falls in love with the boss’s girlfriend. Tough situation, yeah, but any tougher than being a Boston detective on the trail of a missing toddler in Gone Baby Gone? We all know there’s not much this Affleck kid can’t do.

With his baby face and slight stature, Affleck is a nice contrast to his older brother, and seems bent on taking quite a different career path. Good for him. We saw great stuff from him last year, and it looks like now other filmmakers are recognizing his talent and giving him roles that suit him. I predict him being a noir hero as good as Bogart, Mitchum, MacMurray and all the rest.