‘Sons Of Anarchy’s Tommy Flanagan Joins Russell Crowe In Crime Thriller ‘Sleeping Dogs’

EXCLUSIVE: Sons of Anarchy alum Tommy Flanagan has signed on to star alongside Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas and more in the crime thriller Sleeping Dogs from Nickel City Pictures. Pic reunites Flanagan with Crowe following their work together on Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning classic, Gladiator.

The film currently in production in Australia adapts the E.O. Chirovici novel, The Book of Mirrors. Its protagonist is former homicide detective Roy Freeman (Crowe), who in the wake of a cutting-edge Alzheimer’s treatment, is tasked with re-examining a brutal murder case from his past — the grisly murder of a college professor (Csokas). Intrigued and fighting to regain his memory, Roy enlists his former partner to help him revive the investigation. This time though, things unfold very differently when they encounter a magnetic and mysterious woman (Gillan): as he uncovers a tangled web of contradictions and secrets, Roy is forced to face a horrific reality that changes his world forever in the blink of an eye.

Adam Cooper is directing in his feature debut, from his script written with Bill Collage (Assassins Creed), with Harry Greenwood and Thomas M. Wright rounding out the cast. Nickel City Pictures’ Mark Fasano is producing alongside Cooper, Collage, Deborah Glover and Pouya Shabazian of New Leaf Literary. Exec producers on the project include Matthew Goldberg, Cliff Roberts, Highland Film Group‘s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, and Ford Corbett. Nickel City Pictures has partnered with Highland Film Group on worldwide sales, presenting the film last month at EFM.

Flanagan is perhaps best known for his role as Filip ‘Chibs’ Telford in FX’s Emmy-nominated biker gang drama Sons of Anarchy, which ran for seven seasons, Flanagan currently stars opposite Joseph Sikora in Starz’s Power Book IV: Force — a spin-off of the premium cabler’s hugely popular crime drama Power, which has been picked up for a second season. He recently appeared on HBO’s Westworld opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Vincent Cassel and has also been seen on series like Peaky Blinders and Netflix’s Wu Assassins, among others.

Recent film credits for Flanagan include the James Gunn-directed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; the action-thriller Boon opposite Neil McDonough; the crime actioner Killers Anonymous opposite Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba; A24’s acclaimed Western The Ballad of Lefty Brown opposite Bill Pullman, Jim Caviezel and Peter Fonda; Bleecker Street’s Papillon remake, which reunited him with Sons of Anarchy‘s Charlie Hunnam; Netflix’s Iraq War pic Sand Castle opposite Henry Cavill and Nicholas Hoult; and Heidi Greensmith’s indie drama Winter opposite Tom Payne.