Russell Crowe Signs On For Mayoral Run In 'Broken City'

EXCLUSIVE: Russell Crowe is set to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in the Allen Hughes-directed independently financed noir drama Broken City. Production begins in November. Wahlberg plays an ex-cop-turned-private detective who is hired by the mayor (the role Crowe will play) to see if his wife is cheating on him. The private eye confirms those suspicions, and when the mayor's wife's cheating partner ends up dead, the private eye immerses himself in the mayor's business and uncovers a real estate scandal that involves the pol dealing himself choice city-owned properties. The script by Brian Tucker made the 2008 Black List script. The $60 million film will be financed by Emmett/Furla Films. Wahlberg is producing through his Closest to the Hole banner, Stephen Levinson through Leverage, and Randall Emmett, George Furla and Hughes are also producing. Wahlberg and Levinson, partners on Entourage and Boardwalk Empire, just wrapped the drama Contraband. Crowe is playing the small role of Jor-El in the Superman reboot Man of Steel, and just wrapped The Man With The Iron Fists. Emmett/Furla Films has stepped up the volume of films it is financing and producing. They just come aboard with Summit and QED to co-finance the Rob Cohen-directed Tyler Perry-starrer I, Alex Cross based on the James Patterson mystery series, and set Nicolas Cage and John Cusack to star in the fact-based Alaskan murder mystery The Frozen Ground, with Scott Walker directing his script. With Wild Bunch, EFF funded the Stephen Fears-directed Lay The Favorite, starring Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rebecca Hall and Vince Vaughn; EFF is about to begin production on the $25 million Fire With Fire with Willis and Josh Duhamel; and the company will partner with Groundswell Productions to fund Captive and is in pre-production with Exclusive Media to co-finance the David Ayer-directed Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer End of Watch.Crowe is repped by WME.