Russell Crowe Mobster Pic ‘American Son’ Set At Paramount

Russell Crowe will headline American Son, a mob thriller that was previously set up at Sony, but is now at Paramount.

Based on Jacques Audiard’s French movie A Prophet, American Son will be directed by Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu with Dennis Lehane writing the screenplay. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing through Original Film.

Pic follows a man who builds a multiracial crime syndicate after falling under the control of a mobster, played by Crowe. He takes down his mentor, and earns a spot alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.

The original movie, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for a 2010 foreign language film Oscar. In that pic, the protagonist is sent to a French prison where he becomes a kingpin.

Variety first had the news.