Justin Long is probably best known as half of America's dream boyfriend, turning in cutie-pie performances in He's Just Not That Into You and Drag Me to Hell (not to mention all those hoodies in the Mac ads) that just make you want to hang out with him and play Wii.

He easily could have coasted on that reputation for another decade, but instead, Long is switching it up a bit-- THR reports that he's taking a role in The Conspirator, Robert Redford's period drama about a trial related to the Lincoln assassination. Long will play a soldier who's missing a limb thanks to the Civil War, who is friends with James McAvoy's character, a lawyer defending Confederate sympathizer Mary Surratt (Robin Wright Penn) after she's accused of helping assassinate Lincoln.

Phew-- there's a lot going on there, right? The whole missing a limb thing immediately screams "Ben Stiller's character in Tropic Thunder gunning for an Oscar," but I really think Long has it in him to make something out of this. Plus he'll be onscreen a lot with James McAvoy, my other dream boyfriend. I see nothing wrong with this.