Russell Crowe has signed on the dotted line to join ‘American Son’, a movie based on Jacque Audiard’s French film, ‘A Prophet’.
Crowe is said to be playing the role of a “ruthless mobster”.
The film centres around a man, who, after falling under the control of a ruthless mobster (played by Crowe) while in prison, builds a multiracial crime syndicate, takes down his mentor and earns a place for his crew alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.
‘Blue Story’ filmmaker Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu will direct from a script by Dennis Lehane. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing through Original Film.
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Paramount are currently on the search for upcoming talent to play the film’s lead.
Audiard’s 2009 ‘A Prophet’ gave the world Tahir Rahim who played the leading role. It follows Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), a delinquent young Muslim man, who is struggling to get by in a French prison. When he is taken under the wing of powerful Corsican mob boss Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup), he begins performing regular assignments for him, proving himself invaluable to the imposing criminal. As Malik rises in the mob ranks, he gains more power, but also more enemies, a situation that eventually brings conflict with his mentor.
The film went on to win the grand prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for best foreign-language film at the 2010 Oscars.
Crowe was last seen in the Ned Kelly story ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’. He will next be seen in ‘Unhinged’ where he plays a man with serious road rage issues.
