By MICHAEL FLEMING, DAVE MCNARY


Russell Crowe will star in "The Next Three Days," the adaptation of the 2008
French film "Pour Elle" that reunites Lionsgate with its "Crash" director Paul
Haggis.

Crowe will play a teacher whose wife is arrested and convicted of a murder she
says she did not commit. He comes up with a desperate plan to free her.

Haggis, who wrote the script, will begin production in late September in
Pittsburgh.

Haggis told Daily Variety that the drama needed an actor who can thrive as an
Everyman who rises when faced with an extraordinary circumstance, and Crowe was
his top choice.
More than one option

"We've seen him as the gladiator, but he has embodied the Everyman in so many
pictures," Haggis said.

Haggis said the film explores deeper themes of faith and belief.

Said Haggis: "The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if
you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer
love?"

Haggis is producing with Michael Nozik through their Highway 61 Films, along
with Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films.

Crowe is shooting "Robin Hood," the Ridley Scott-directed drama for Universal
and Imagine.


variety.com