Elizabeth Banks joins Paul Haggis 'NEXT'

Elizabeth Banks, Paul Haggis and Russell Crowe

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

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 is directing, writing and producing.

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. Film is sched for release in 2011 and will be distributed in Canada by Maple Pictures and by Lionsgate in the USA.

Source: Maple Pictures