Los Angeles, Sep 1 (IANS): Actor Russell Crowe will play a former homicide detective tasked with re-examining a brutal murder case from his past in 'Sleeping Dogs'.

The Nickel City Pictures film marks the directorial debut of Adam Cooper, who wrote the script with Bill Collage, reports Variety.

The film is an adaptation of E.O. Chirovici's acclaimed novel, 'The Book of Mirrors'. Cooper and Collage previously penned the scripts for 'Assassins Creed' and 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'.

Crowe played Roy Freeman, who is undergoing a cutting-edge Alzheimer's treatment. He is forced to grapple with the impact of an investigation from his former life after a death row inmate that Freeman arrested 10 years prior starts to proclaim his innocence.

Intrigued and fighting to regain his memory, Freeman enlists his former partner to help him revive the case and discover the truth. Together, they set off to unravel a tangled web of secrets, forcing Freeman to make some horrific discoveries.

"Our memory of the past is what gives us context for who we are. A character who is bereft in this capacity comes with a very complex kind of humanity a" and there's no one better at embodying complex characters than Russell Crowe," said Cooper.

Principal photography is slated to begin in January 2023.

Crowe is currently in production on 'The Pope's Exorcist'.

He will next be seen in Peter Farrelly's 'The Greatest Beer Run Ever', which will premiere at Toronoto International Film Festival, and J.C. Chandor's Spider-verse adventure 'Kraven the Hunter'.

He is in post-production on the thriller 'Poker Face', which he directed and stars in. Crowe won an Oscar for "Gladiator" and was also nominated for his work in "The Insider" and "A Beautiful Mind."