Russell Crowe has been cast in a new film, which will be exciting news for fans of the original Gladiator. According to Variety, Crowe has signed on to act in the forthcoming crime thriller Sleeping Dogs, in which he will play a retired investigator who must reopen an old case to uncover the truth before it’s too late. The Book of Mirrors, written in 2017, served as inspiration for Sleeping Dogs. Crowe’s character in the film, Roy Freeman, is a former murder investigator who is “going through innovative therapy for Alzheimer’s.”
After hearing claims of innocence from a death-row convict Freeman helped incarcerate, Freeman begins to reevaluate the events leading up to the inmate’s incarceration. Freeman, aided by his elderly parents, must struggle to recover his lost recollections and learn the truth. Crowe has won several acting awards and has a lengthy resume. He has acted in a wide variety of genre films, from historical epics like Gladiator to musicals like Les Misérables and tragedies like A Beautiful Mind. The actor has already acted in critically praised crime films including The Nice Guys and L.A. Confidential, so he is no stranger to the genre.
Next up for Crowe is the comedy The Greatest Beer Run Ever, followed by the horror film The Pope’s Exorcist and the suspense film Poker Face. Adam Cooper, who has collaborated with Bill Collage on several projects, will make his directorial debut with Sleeping Dogs.
Cooper and Collage have worked together for a long time, and their collaborations include such diverse projects as the action film Assassin’s Creed, the biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings directed by Ridley Scott, the comedy Accepted, and the cult classic New York Minute starring the Olsen Twins. Cooper released a statement explaining his decision to cast Crowe, saying: Having a sense of where we came from is essential to understanding who we are today. Without this ability, a character’s humanity is far more nuanced, and no actor can better depict nuanced characters than Russell Crowe.
For New Leaf Literary, Cooper and Collage will produce Sleeping Dogs alongside Mark Fasano and Pouya Shabazian. Matthew Goldberg, Cliff Roberts, Arianne Fraser, Delphine Perrier, and Ford Corbett will serve as the film’s executive producers. Scheduled to start shooting in January of 2023, Sleeping Dogs is a highly anticipated sequel.
Synopsis
Crowe portrays Roy Freeman, a man with Alzheimer’s who is receiving innovative therapy. When a death row convict that Freeman captured 10 years ago begins to declare his innocence, Freeman is forced to reckon with the effects of an investigation from his former life. As he struggles to remember, Freeman, recruits his old partner to help him investigate the case again. They set out to investigate a mystery together, leading Freeman to some terrifying revelations.