Variety is exclusively reporting that Russell Crowe is set to star in the Paramount Pictures thriller American Son, based on Jacques Audiard’s french crime film A Prophet.

American Son focuses around a man, who, after falling under the control of a ruthless mobster 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.

Russell Crowe will be playing the role of the ruthless mobster in prison, whilst Paramount begin their search to find the film’s protagonist. The original film won the grand prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, as well as earning a nomination for best foreign-language film at the 2010 Oscars (The Secret In Their Eyes won that year).

An American retelling of A Prophet has been in the works a few times last decade, between Sony developing a film adaptation back in 2016, to CPB Films and Why Not Productions looking to do a television series adaptation in 2018, but now this latest project is seen as a priority for Paramount Pictures.

Currently, Blue Story director, Andrew ‘Rapman’ Onwubolu is set to direct the film, with the screenplay adapted by Dennis Lehane, while the film will be produced by Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe under their Original Film banner.