Ray Liotta to tip off Jeremy Renner in 'Kill the Messenger'

Ray Liotta will join Jeremy Renner on the set of "Kill the Messenger," a thriller based on one journalist’s investigation of ties between drug trafficking and the CIA.

One of the most hotly anticipated biopics of 2014, the film will be directed by Michael Cuesta ("Homeland," "Six Feet Under") and written by Peter Landesman ("Trade").

The thriller will explore the story of investigative journalist Gary Webb, who sparked a nationwide controversy with his book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion" (Seven Stories Press). The film will be based on Webb's book and on a posthumous biography by Nick Schou, entitled "Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Gary Webb" (Nation Books).

An exceptional journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Webb criticized the CIA's role in the war on drugs. Following the scandal created by his book, Gary Webb was found dead, with two bullets to the head, in 2004 in Sacramento. An investigation concluded that suicide was the cause of death.

The reporter will be played by Jeremy Renner ("The Avengers," "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"), who will also appear in theaters in 2014 in the fifth installment of the "Jason Bourne" saga.

According to Deadline.com, Ray Liotta, a regular in crime thriller supporting roles ("The Iceman," "Cogan," "The Place beyond the Pines"), will play a retired CIA agent who is interviewed by the journalist. The agent will play a crucial role in providing information on the actions of his former employer.

The actor, who portrayed the unforgettable Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas," will join Rosemarie DeWitt (playing Webb's wife), Paz Vega, Michael Kenneth Williams (Chalky White in "Boardwalk Empire") and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.