Michael Shannon joins HBO's "Empire"

Actor Michael Shannon attends a news conference in New York in this May 10, 2007 file photo.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Michael Shannon, an Oscar nominee for his supporting performance in "Revolutionary Road," will co-star in Martin Scorsese's HBO pilot, "Boardwalk Empire," which chronicles the early 20th-century origins of Atlantic City, N.J.

Also cast in the project is Vincent Piazza, who appeared on "The Sopranos" and "Rescue Me." He will play a young Lucky Luciano.

Based on Nelson Johnson's nonfiction book, "Empire" is written by Terence Winter and will be directed by Scorsese. It centers on Nucky Johnson (Steve Buscemi), who runs a liquor distribution ring at the onset of Prohibition, and Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt), a ruthless World War I veteran and a low-level flunky for Nucky.

Shannon will play Van Alden, a dedicated senior agent with the Treasury Department who has been charged with controlling bootlegging.

Piazza's Luciano is a young associate of Arnold Rothstein, a rich, blunt New York businessman who wants in on Nucky's liquor production.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter