James Russo has joined Sean Penn’s upcoming drama ‘Flag Day’.
The 66-year-old actor has joined the Hollywood star’s forthcoming directorial debut based on Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir ‘Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life’ – in a cast that will be led by Penn and his daughter, Dylan, along with Josh Brolin and Miles Teller.
Hopper Penn, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble, and Katheryn Winnick will also star in the movie which follows a daughter as she attempts to come to terms with the fact her bank-robber father evaded capture for six months.
The film is slated for release in 2020 and Penn will direct from a script by Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth.
The books official synopsis reads: "Jennifer Vogel opened the newspaper and read that her father had gone on the run. John Vogel, fifty-two, had been arrested for single-handedly counterfeiting nearly $20 million in U.S. currency – the fourth-largest sum ever seized by federal agents – and then released pending trial.
"Framed around the six months her father eluded authorities, Jennifer’s memoir documents the police chase – stakeouts, lie detector tests, even a segment on Unsolved Mysteries – and vividly chronicles her tumultuous childhood while examining her father’s legacy."
William Horberg, Jon Kilik and Fernando Sulichin acting as producers for Wonderful Films, Rahway Road, New Element Films and Clyde Is Hungry Films while Christelle Conan, Anders Erdén, Peter Touche, Phyllis Laing, Devan Towers, Thorsten Schumacher, Vincent Maraval, John Wildermuth, Sidney Kimmel and Allen Liu will executive produce.
James is best known for his work in films such as 1984’s ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and 1997 hit films ‘The Postman’ and ‘Donnie Brasco’.