'Captain America' Helmer Joe Johnston to Direct 'Not Safe For Work'

5:05 PM PST 2/1/2012 by Borys Kit

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He'll take on the low-budget thriller as his first project after last year's "First Avenger."

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Joe Johnston has signed on for his first project since directing last year’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

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The helmer has boarded Not Safe for Work, a micro-budgeted thriller from micro-budget master Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Pictiures. NSFW is set up at Universal via his first-look deal with the studio.

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Written by British scribes Adam Mason and Simon Boyes, NSFW centers on a young paralegal who is trapped in the office with a killer on a mission to destroy files for another corporation.

Couper Samuelson is exec producing and Bryan Brucks is co-producing.

Taking on the movie is a radical move for Johnston, who normally works with budgets of more than $100 million while juggling special-effects shots. America’s budget was in the $140 million range, and among Johnston’s other credits are Jurassic Park III, The Wolfman and Jumanji. He also directed the fan-favorite comics adaptation The Rocketeer. NSFW is being made for $2.5 million.

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The director is not making studio bucks on the project but will take part in the backend should the movie hit big.

With NSFW and its burgeoning film slate, Blumhouse is expanding its film division, appointing Jeanette Volturno-Brill as head of physical production and Samuelson as executive vp production.

Volturno-Brill line-produced a number of films for Blumhouse, including the three Paranormal Activity movies, Insidious andThe Bay. She also worked for Sony ImageWorks and Ridley Scott’s Mill Films.

Samuelson worked for producer Brad Weston at Paramount, where he produced Destination Wedding, the first movie initiated by the studio’s low-budget film division Paramount InSurge.

Johnston is repped by CAA. Mason and Boyes are repped by WME, Brucks Entertainment and Myman Greenspan.