Tim Robbins, Jack Black to star on HBO series 'The Brink'

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Tim Robbins and Jack Black are confirmed for The Brink.

The 56-year-old actor and 45-year-old comedian will star alongside Pablo Schreiber on the new HBO comedy. Weeds writer Roberto Benabib created the series with brother Kim Benabib, and discussed the program with Robbins and Black at the Television Critics Association tour Thursday.

Robbins will portray U.S. Secretary of State Walter Larson, with Black as U.S. foreign service official Alex Talbot and Schreiber as Navy pilot Zeke Tilson. The three men are tasked with preventing nuclear war after a rebel general takes control of Pakistan.

"It's a very exciting form of entertainment, in that it approaches something with the idea that it is entertainment and must be funny but is dealing with content and issues that are relevant to how we are living today," the actor told reporters.

Robbins is known for such films as The Shawshank Redemption and Mystic River, and recently appeared in IFC miniseries The Spoils of Babylon. Black last starred with Owen Wilson in The Big Year, while Schreiber portrayed George Mendez on Orange is the New Black.