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.

Having hung up the Bat cowl for good, Christian Bale looks to be sticking to heady dramas for the near future.  He recently wrapped Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace, and he’s currently busy filming two new Terrence Malick films.  Now it looks as though he may be teaming up with In the Bedroom writer/director Todd Field for an adaptation of Boston Teran’s novel The Creed of Violence.

“Set against a backdrop of intrigue and corruption,” the story takes place in Mexico in 1910 and centers on a criminal named Rawbone.  His plan involving the delivery of a truck full of weapons is altered when a young Bureau of Investigation agent captures Rawbone and offers him immunity in exchange for continuing on with his scheme under the direction of the agent.  Bale would play Rawbone, but there are a few obstacles to overcome before closing the deal.  Hit the jump for more.

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.