'Outlander' Star Joining George Clooney, Julia Roberts in 'Money Monster' (Exclusive)

Jodie Foster is directing TriStar's financial thriller.

Caitriona Balfe, the star of the Starz TV show Outlander, is joining the high-profile cast of Money Monster, TriStar’s financial thriller being directed by Jodie Foster.

George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Unbroken star Jack O’Connell are already starring in the thriller, which is said to unfold in real time.

Clooney is set to star as Lee Gates, a bombastic television stock huckster, whose program — Money Monster — and life are taken hostage by an outraged gunman (O’Connell). As much of the world watches live, Gates must keep himself alive and, with help from the woman who produces the show (Roberts), uncover the truth behind a tangle of big-money lies.

Balfe will play the head of PR for the company whose stock bottomed, causing the life's savings of O’Connell’s character to be wiped out.

Alan DiFiore and Jim Kouf wrote the original draft of the script. Jamie Linden wrote the current draft.

Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine are producing through their Allegiance Theater shingle. Clooney and Grant Heslov are producing through their company, Smokehouse Pictures.

On Outlander, Balfe plays a woman torn between two different time periods and two vastly different men. The show is a fan-favorite hit, as is Balfe, and it's already been renewed for a second season.

Featurewise, she has appeared in Escape Plan, the Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, and Now You See Me. She made her feature debut in J.J. Abrams’ Super 8.

She is repped by WME, Industry Entertainment and Emptage Hallett in the U.K.

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @borys_kit