Elizabeth Banks is in final negotiations to star in "The Next Three Days" for
writer-director Paul Haggis at Lionsgate.

Banks will play the lead role of Laura, a woman who is imprisoned for a murder
she claims she didn't commit, as her husband, the recently cast Russell Crowe,
desperately tries to vindicate her.

The suspense drama is a remake of the 2008 French thriller "Pour Elle," which
was written and directed by Fred Cavaye.

Haggis, his Highway 61 Films partner Michael Nozik and Fidelite's Marc
Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc are producing. Lionsgate execs Alli Shearmur and
Wolfgang Hammer are overseeing for the studio.

Filming is scheduled to begin next month.

Banks, who is repped by UTA and Untitled Entertainment, most recently starred in
"Zach and Miri Make a Porno," "The Uninvited" and "W." She is currently shooting
the comedy "The Details" opposite Tobey Maguire.

Banks is attached to star in and produce, through her Brownstone Prods., the
comedy "Forever 21," which is in development at DreamWorks.


By Jay A. Fernandez
hollywoodreporter.com