Cross Creek Pictures has announced that production is underway on writer/director Scott Frank’s (The Lookout) crime thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones.  Filming is taking place in New York on the pic, which stars Liam Neeson as an alcoholic ex-cop who investigates the kidnapping of a heroin drug lord’s wife, teaming up with a heroin trafficker and his brother to hunt down the men responsible for the crime.  Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) and Boyd Holbrook (Milk) star as the trafficker and his brother, respectively, and Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) is also onboard as Neeson’s former colleague.

The film is based on one of a series of Matt Scudder crime novels by author Lawrence Block. David Harbour (End of Watch), Mark Consuelos (American Horror Story), and Astro (The X-Factor) round out the cast. Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the official synopsis.

Casting for Scott Frank’s A Walk Among the Tombstones continues to fill out around star Liam Neeson.  The adaptation of the Lawrence Block novel recently added Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey); we can now report that Ruth Wilson (Luther) and Boyd Holbrook (Milk) will also be joining the cast.  The story centers on private investigator Matthew Scudder (Neeson) who is hired by a drug lord in order to find out who kidnapped him and murdered his wife.  Hit the jump for more on A Walk Among the Tombstones.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, Nicolas Cage has boarded yet another thriller as he’s set to star in Tokarev.  THR reports that Cage was instrumental in choosing the film’s director—spanish filmmaker Paco Cabezas—and will play a former criminal who sets out in search of his daughter’s kidnappers.  Jim Agnew and Sean Keller wrote the script, and production is looking to get underway this May in Spokane, Washington.  Cage will next be seen voicing a character in the DreamWorks Animation comedy The Croods.

Hit the jump for casting news concerning a certain Downton Abbey alum landing a co-starring role opposite Liam Neeson.

Steve walked the floor at the American Film Market (AFM) early this morning and managed to bring back some detailed synopses for the following films:

• Jane Got a Gun – A Western starring Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender
• Parkland – A drama about the JFK assassination starring Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, and Jacki Weaver.
• The Green Inferno – The next directorial project from Eli Roth.
• A Walk Among the Tombstones – A crime thriller starring Liam Neeson.
• Agent: Century 21 – An action comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro.

Hit the jump to check out all the detailed synopses, which include production start dates.

We just shared the first images of Liam Neeson being a badass in Taken 2, and now official word comes that he’s set to topline an adaptation of Lawrence Block’s crime novel A Walk Among the Tombstones.  Moreover, Scott Frank is set to direct from a script that he wrote.  The film centers on an alcoholic ex-cop who investigates the kidnapping of a heroin drug lord’s wife.  Last we heard, D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) was in talks to direct Frank’s script, but today Exclusive Media and Cross Creek Pictures have announced that Frank himself will be stepping into the director’s chair.

Frank wrote and directed the 2007 crime pic The Lookout, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, of which I’m a big fan.  The director took an atypical approach to the visuals and crafted some seriously interesting characters, so I feel confident that A Walk Among the Tombstones won’t simply be another bland, “gritty actioner with a male lead” that gets lost in the shuffle.  Neeson’s a busy guy, so production on Tombstones won’t get underway until February 2013 in New York City.  Nevertheless, this is definitely a project to keep an eye on.  Hit the jump for the press release.

Director D.J. Caruso (I Am Number Four) is in talks to direct an adaptation of the Lawrence Frank book A Walk Among the Tombstones for Cross Creek Pictures. Centering on the character Matthew Scudder, A Walk Among the Tombstones sees the alcoholic ex-cop investigating the kidnapping of a heroin drug lord’s wife. If Caruso’s negotiations go through, it isn’t clear whether Tombstones or the John August-penned adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher will be his next project.

Deadline reports that Scott Frank (Minority Report) will pen the adaptation which has been rolling around Hollywood for some time now and is expected to take on an “R-rated tone.” A nearly two-decades younger Harrison Ford was once interested in making a turn as the protagonist Matthew Scudder when the pic was set up at Universal. There is no word on who might be interested in starring in the project’s most recent development attempt, but given that Scudder’s character is retired, I’m going to go ahead and say that the 69-year-old Ford should still give it a shot. For more, hit the jump to check out a synopsis for Frank’s book.