The upcoming novel from writer John Grisham (whose credits include The Firm, A Time to Kill and Runaway Jury) has already been picked up for adaptation by Paramount pictures. The novel (and movie) will be called ‘The Associate’ and apparently they have roped in Shia LaBeouf to play the lead role.

MTV Movies has the lowdown.

Based on the upcoming John Grisham novel, LaBeouf will play a student who’s set to graduate from Yale Law School, when he’s manipulated into accepting a job at a prestigious law firm. But all is not as lucky as it seems when he’s given inside information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

Unfortunately that’s all we’ve got, and you’ll have to wait until the book comes out on January 27th to find out what awaits LaBeouf’s hapless student. Given what usually happens to Grisham’s brilliant legal eagles, it won’t be a raise, a corner office, or a promotion.

‘Transformers’ producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura will also be along for the ride and it was apparently him that suggested LaBeouf for the role after working with him on ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’.

Is anyone else here a bit sick of Shia LaBeouf? Granted, he’s a serviceable actor, but I’ve never seen him play a challenging part. He played Shia LaBeouf against giant robots in ‘Transformers’, Shia LaBeouf against David Morse in ‘Disturbia’, Shia LaBeouf against a giant computer in ‘Eagle Eye’ etc etc. I’m glad to see him branching out into more grown-up roles, perhaps he will mature into a fine actor over the next few years.