Ramin Bahrani is one of those American filmmakers who is a superstar only at a certain handful of film festivals; the director behind Man Push Cart and Goodbye Solo is frequently recognized among highbrow movie nerds as one of the best up and coming directors working today, and given that he's just 36 we've got a lot to look forward to from him-- including, it turns out, a Zac Efron movie? Do not adjust your screen-- according to Variety both Efron and Dennis Quaid have joined Bahrani's untitled new film, about a farmer "whose manic expansion alienates his sons and devoted wife."

Quaid and Efron as father and son in what's presumably another micro-scaled indie from Bahrani? I can get behind that. The plot reminds me immediately of another stellar American indie from this year, Jeff Nichols's Take Shelter, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year and is actually at Cannes as we speak. Imagining Quaid in a role similar to the one that Michael Shannon plays in that film, slowly unraveling even while thinking he's doing the best for his family, is really intriguing, especially having last seen Quaid in the slightly ridiculous Soul Surfer. And Efron, despite his effort toward serious acting with Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, is still best known as that singing and dancing kid from High School Musical; he could use the boost as well.

Shooting on the Bahrani film is set to star this summer, with independent financing of course. His films have previously been a little hard to come by but always found release, and with actual stars on board for this one this may finally be the film that gets Bahrani recognized outside of just film nerd circles.