Russell Crowe has finalized negotiations with Lionsgate to star in “The Next Three Days,” an adaptation of the 2008 French film “Pour Elle,” reports Variety.

“Crash” director Paul Haggis, who penned the script, will direct as well as produce with Michael Nozik through their Highway 61 Films.

Crowe’s character is a teacher whose wife is convicted of a murder she says she didn’t commit.  He devises a desperate plan to free her.

Production is scheduled to begin in late September in Pittsburgh.

Haggis told the Daily Variety that the film explores deep topics like 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?”

Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films will also produce.

Crowe is currently in production on Ridley Scott’s drama “Robin Hood” for Universal and Imagine.