'Halt & Catch Fire' adds Lee Pace

Lee Pace, known for his role in 'Pushing Daisies' and his recent appearance in the blockbuster feature film 'Lincoln,' has signed on to headline the upcoming AMC pilot 'Halt & Catch Fire.'

'Halt & Catch Fire' comes from 'Breaking Bad' executive producer Mark Johnson and is set in the 1980s in Texas when the PC boom first took off. Written by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers, 'Halt & Catch Fire' dramatizes the personal computing boom through the eyes of one visionary, Joe MacMillan (to be played by Pace) an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time. Once a superstar salesman at IBM, MacMillan recently departed under mysterious circumstances only to resurface at a Dallas tech company.

Joining Pace, co-starring in 'Halt & Catch Fire,' is Mackenzie Davis ('Smashed,' 'Breathe In') who plays the partner to Pace's character. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas’ Silicon Prairie. Davis playes Cameron Howe, a prodigy and budding superstar computer programming graduate student whose aggressive exterior has everything to do with protecting a vulnerability underneath.

The pilot is being directed by Juan José Campanella, a veteran of film and television, with credits that include 'House' and 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.' The Argentinian director has amassed accolades across his career which has spanned over three decades--Campanella's involvement immediately elevates the credibility of the 'Halt & Catch Fire' pilot.

With the addition of Pace, 'Halt & Catch Fire' is getting quite close to production. More on this new AMC venture as it develops.