Aussie film director Robert Luketic ("Legally Blonde", "Monster-in-Law", "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton") is set to direct the casino-set thriller "21," the adaptation of Ben Mezrich's best-selling non-fiction book "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions".

The story follows a group of young MIT students who in 1993, with the help of a former math instructor, came up with a more complex variation of the 'card counting' technique that would make the game of Blackjack beatable.

Backed by anonymous investors, team members checked into Vegas hotels under assumed names won millions whilst taking advantage of the statistical nature of blackjack. The establishments caught on however and pursued them.

Production Weekly reports that actor Kevin Spacey, who optioned the book in 2002 after reading an excerpt of it in Playboy magazine, will star in the film which being penned by Peter Steinfeld ("Be Cool").

Principal photography begins February and is taking in locations around Boston and Las Vegas.