Looks like Alex Pettyfer is bouncing back quickly after a disappointing start to 2011 amid disappointing box office and tabloid rumors running amuck. Variety reports from Cannes that the young thesp is in talks to join “Overdrive”, a high voltage action thriller which will pair him with fellow Brit Matthew Goode. This news comes just one day after it was announced director Steven Soderbergh had hand-picked Pettyfer to star opposite Channing Tatum in his male stripper project “Magic Mike”, based on a summer from Tatum’s own adolescence.

In “Overdrive”, Pettyfer and Goode will play handsome, jet-setting brothers who are known for being high profile car thieves. When they travel to the South of France in search of their next adrenaline rush, they are thwarted by a tough local crime boss. Written by “3:10 to Yuma” scribes Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, the film is a passion project for producer Pierre Morel, who directed “Taken”. ” ‘Overdrive’ is an action flick with brains and a great dose of humor, mixing elements of ‘Point Break’ and ‘The Hangover,’ ” said studio exec Gregoire Melin.

“I’ve been looking a long time for the right project to make my producing debut. When I read Derek and Michael’s script, I knew this was the perfect vehicle, in which I could input all the experience I had gathered over the years” adds Morel. He is expected to take a hands-on approach to the production, which is slated to begin soon in Mairseilles, France, while aiming for a summer 2012 release.

Both Pettyfer and Goode have had some misfires as of late, with Goode in Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen”, which didn’t quite connect with comic book movie fans the way other films have, and the generic rom-com “Leap Year” opposite Amy Adams, which was a thousand times more awful than it should have been, given its charming and talented leads. Meanwhile, Pettyfer’s early 2011 slate that should have made him a breakout star got lost in a myriad of reports about his bad attitude and arrogance instead, perhaps contributing to “I Am Number Four” and “Beastly” underperforming. Let’s hope summer 2012 turn out a little bit better for these guys.