Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Jamie Bell has been set to star in Man On A Ledge, the Summit Entertainment crime drama that will star Sam Worthington. Reports have The Hurt Locker‘s Anthony Mackie also negotiating. The film’s being directed by Asger Leth, best known for his documentary Ghosts of Cite Soleil. He’s gathering a strong cast for his Hollywood debut, a nice rebound after the implosion of Cartel, the La Scorta remake Leth was set to direct until its plug got pulled by Universal last April, seven weeks from shooting with Josh Brolin in the starring role.

Scripted by Pablo Fenjves with a rewrite underway from Red scribes Erich and Jon Hoeber, Man on a Ledge begins production November in New York. Worthington plays a cop thrown in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Let out for his father’s funeral, he escapes and ends up on a hotel ledge threatening to kill himself. Bell plays his brother, who happens to be planning a heist of a jewelry store across the street while the cop threatens suicide. Mackie would play the disgraced cop’s ex-partner. The pic’s produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, and David Ready. Still to be cast is the role of a female psychiatrist, who tries to talk the cop off the ledge and develops feelings for him. Rumors have Amy Adams interested, but there is no deal yet.

Bell next stars with Channing Tatum in the Kevin Macdonald-directed The Eagle of the Ninth, Jane Eyre and The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and he’s starring with Cillian Murphy in The Retreat.