Jim Carrey will star in "I Love You Phillip Morris," a dark comedy that was written and will mark the directing debut of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the writing team behind "Bad Santa."

Andrew Lazar and Far Shariat will produce.

Carrey will play a conman whose love for a cellmate leads him to make several prison escapes.

A financing deal for the less-than-$20 million film is about to close with Luc Besson's Europacorp, which bested several rival bids when the project was shopped in Cannes.

Based on a book by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker, the fact-based film casts Carrey as Steven Russell, a married father whose exploits landed him in the Texas criminal justice system.

He fell madly in love with his cellmate, who eventually was set free, which led Russell to escape from Texas prisons four times. Script has some of the dark edges of "Bad Santa" but is grounded by the affable and lovesick character of Russell. Project was pitched to financiers as "Catch Me if You Can" meets "Brokeback Mountain." It went to Besson, who recently declared an intention to take Europacorp public with an initial offering in Paris.