Liam Neeson has joined “The Next Three Days,” the Paul Haggis-directed thriller for Lionsgate.

The picture began photography last Friday, with Russell Crowe playing a teacher whose wife (Elizabeth Banks) is arrested for a gruesome murder she says she didn’t commit. Several years of incarceration leaves her suicidal and he plots to break her out. Neeson plays an ex-con who has broken out of jail multiple times, has written a book about it, and shows the teacher how it's done. 

Brian Dennehy, Lennie James, Olivia Wilde, Aisha Hinds (“True Blood”), Daniel Stern and RZA also star in Haggis’s first film for Lionsgate since “Crash.” Haggis wrote the script, which is based on the 2008 French film “Pour Elle.”

Haggis and Michael Nozik produce through Highway 61 Films, alongside Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc of Fidelite Films.

Pic is shooting in Pittsburgh, wrapping December 12.

Neeson is currently starring as Hannibal in the Joe Carnahan-directed “A Team” and just wrapped “After Life” and “Clash of the Titans.”