According to The Hollywood Reporter, Richard Gere has signed on to star in The Flock, a $35 million thriller that will mark the English-language debut of Hong Kong director Andrew Lau (Wai Keung Lau).

Flock follows a hypervigilant federal agent (Gere) who, while training his young female replacement, must track down a missing girl who he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he is investigating. Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell wrote the script.

Bauer Martinez, run by Philippe Martinez, is fully financing the film and will distribute via the studio's recently launched distribution entity, Bauer Martinez Distribution, with foreign sales being handled by Bauer Martinez International.

The company hopes to release 12 films in the U.S. next year; its slate of upcoming films includes The Groomsmen, written and directed by Ed Burns and starring Burns and Brittany Murphy; and Land of the Blind, starring Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland. The company is in production on I Could Never Be Your Woman, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Amy Heckerling. The film began principal photography this week in London.