The Whale‘s director has author Charlie Huston adapting his own novel, which follows Hank Thompson (Butler), a burned-out former baseball player whose neighbor lands him with a cat and a whole world of trouble. He’s soon deep within the New York crime scene, running for his life and trying to figure out what he’s truly gotten himself into.

“I am excited to be teaming up with my old friends at Sony Pictures to bring Charlie’s adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride to life. I can’t wait to start working with Austin and my family of NYC filmmakers,” Aronofsky tells Deadline.

Sony nabbed this one as a package, and it marks the company’s latest collaboration with the studio, following his agreeing to star in and produce an adaptation of Don Winslow’s City On Fire.