Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Courtney Love Cast in David Mamet’s JFK Film ‘Assassination’

Casting is underway for David Mamet's upcoming thriller about John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Courtney Love and John Travolta have all signed on to star in the film, Variety and Deadline report.

Directed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and co-written with Nicholas Celozzi, Assassination is heading to Cannes this week and will be presented to buyers. The film is based on Celozzi's great uncle Sam Giancana, a Chicago mobster who might have played a role in Kennedy's death.

"1963," the synopsis reads, per Variety. "During a crucial justice hearing against organized crime, the head of the Chicago mob orders the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., creating a deadly conspiracy while altering the fate of a nation."

The script was born out of stories Celozzi heard from his Uncle Joe, who was closely linked to Giancana.

During an interview with Deadline last year, Mamet likened the film to The Godfather, with plenty of "really inside stuff."

"What's The Godfather really about? Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo sitting around a kitchen table and telling the stories they overheard of their grandparents," the director explained. "That's why we love that movie, it reeks of being inside, of family and cultural myths presented like gossip."