It has been more than twenty years since French Director Bertrand Tavernier released his last English-speaking motion picture Round Midnight. After making more than a dozen films in his native country, Variety reports that Bertrand will return to the states with an adaptation of James Lee Burke's cult novel "In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead."

Tommy Lee Jones will star in the film as Detective Dave Robicheaux, an ex-alcoholic Vietnam Vet on the trail of a serial killer. A run-in with Hollywood big shot Elrod Sykes, reportedly played by Peter Saarsgard, leads Robicheaux to another supposedly unrelated case.

It's title shortened to In the Electric Mist, the film will also star John Goodman, Ned Beatty, James Gammon, Levon Helm, Kelly Macdonald, Justina Machado, Tom Sizemore and Mary Steenburgen. Jerzy Kromolowski and his wife Mary Olson Kromolowski adapted the screenplay with help from Jones. Together, they worked on the project for three years.

Co-Producer Frederic Bournboulon described In the Electric Mist as "...A crime story that also poses questions of a philosophical nature." He went on to say, "Like Lucien Cordier in 'Clean Slate,' the hero is someone who never gives up. He seeks out the truth and discovers things that go beyond him. It's a film that would have meant a lot to Noiret."

In the Electric Mist will premier at the Cannes Film Festival, before being distributed throughout France in 2008. The film began shooting on April 25, which also happened to be Tavernier's 66th birthday. In the Electric Mist will wrap up production on June 26th.