Viggo Mortensen has agreed to star in the new British thriller, Eastern Promises for Focus Features.

He'll be working once again with his A History of Violence director David Cronenberg. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story is about a Russian prostitute who dies during childbirth; a nurse is dragged into an underworld involving the Russian mob. Mortensen will play a mysterious man with ties to the mob.

The film is written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things); production for Eastern Promises is tentatively set to begin this fall, though Cronenberg is also attached to direct Maps to the Stars. A 2008 release date has been attached.