As if his breakthrough performance in Richard Ayoade’s Submarine wasn’t impressive enough, 23-year-old Craig Roberts is looking to take a leaf from his colleague's book by gearing up his own directorial debut, Just Jim. And he’s snagged Emile Hirsch to co-star with him.

Just Jim will see Roberts as a teenage loser whose life is suddenly turned around by the arrival of an enigmatic, charismatic neighbour (Hirsch). The pair heads a cast that also includes Aneirin Hughes, Nia Roberts, Richard Harrington, Matthew Aubrey, Ryan Owen and Charlotte Randall.

Roberts got the gig after submitting the project to Wales’ new talent scheme, Cinematic, and will shoot in Caerphilly across three weeks. “It’s surreal to be back in my home town shooting a movie,” Roberts says in a statement picked up by Screen International. “I’m excited to work with a great cast and I hope Emile likes Maesycwmmer.”

Roberts was most recently seen in US comedies Bad Neighbours and 22 Jump Street and will next show up in Kill Your Friends alongside Nicholas Hoult. Hirsch was part of the Lone Survivor ensemble and has most recently worked on indie drama Ten Thousand Saints.