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The Lionsgate film will see Crowe play a teacher who hatches a plan to free his wife from prison after she is falsely convicted of murder.
"We've seen him as the gladiator, but he has embodied the 'Everyman' in so many pictures," Haggis told Variety of his leading man.
The filmmaker added that his version of Fred Cavayé's movie will be about love and faith.
"The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer love?" he said.
Haggis previously worked with Lionsgate on Crash, winning Oscars in 2005 for best film, original screenplay and director.
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