Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Vincent Cassel and Shea Whigham have signed on to star in Momentum for Moonrise Pictures and director Stephen Campanelli.

The action-thriller centers on a thief (Olga Kurylenko) who is forced to go on the run to evade the authorities and a ruthless gang of assassins, lead by Vincent Cassel's character. No details were given for Morgan Freeman and Shea Whigham's roles.

Stephen Campanelli, who has served as a camera operator on Clint Eastwood's movies since 1995's The Bridges of Madison County, is directing from a screenplay by Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan. Here's what the director had to say about working under Clint Eastwood and transitioning to the director's chair.

""For the last 20 years, I've been blessed to work with one of cinema's greatest story tellers, Clint Eastwood, as my mentor. Now, I will be making the leap to where I really belong, as a director, with the feature film Momentum.

Production is scheduled to begin on January 13 in Cape Town, South Africa.