By Chris Petrikin

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) – Actor Jason Lee, whose credits include “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy”, is set to join Will Smith and Gene Hackman in the political conspiracy thriller “Enemy of the State”.

Tony Scott is directing the film, was scripted by David Marconi and Aaron Sorkin.

In the film, Smith portrays a labor lawyer who is being hunted by the National Security Agency after he has been slipped by Lee’s character — a former reporter at a radical newspaper — a tape implicating the intelligency agency in the death of a U.S. congressman.

Lee will jump from lensing the indie picture “American Cuisine” to “Enemy of the State,” which begins shooting in early November on locations in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Lee has also appeared in the indies “Drawing Flies” and “Kissing A Fool”, the latter co-starring David Schwimmer, Bonnie Hunt and Vanessa Angel.

Reuters/Variety