"The Visitor" and "The Station Agent" writer/director Thomas McCarthy has landed a role in Roland Emmerich's apocalyptic epic "2012" says The Hollywood Reporter.

McCarthy will play the new boyfriend of Amanda Peet's character - the ex-wife of the lead character played by John Cusack. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt also star.

Shooting begins in August in Vancouver. McCarthy also will begin working on a new script that he intends to direct.