Ice Cube and Tommy Lee Jones unite for unlikely new crime thriller

Ice Cube and Tommy Lee Jones are forming one of the more unexpected new screen partnerships in Outside Man, a crime drama about two men trying to escape very different pasts.

The project has now taken a major step towards cinemas after Focus Features acquired worldwide rights, with filming due to begin in November. Oscar-winning L.A. Confidential writer Brian Helgeland will write and direct.

An ex-mob enforcer meets a retired Texas Ranger

Ice Cube plays Ruben, a former Chicago mob enforcer determined to change his life after leaving prison. He disappears into rural Texas and finds work with Gus Wanamaker, a skilled furniture maker and retired Texas Ranger played by Jones.

An unlikely friendship gradually develops between them, but their attempt at a quieter life begins falling apart when both men's pasts threaten to catch up with them.

The pairing gives Outside Man an interesting clash of screen personas. Cube moves back into crime-thriller territory, while Jones brings decades of experience playing formidable lawmen and authority figures in films including The Fugitive and No Country for Old Men.

Helgeland has plenty of crime history of his own. He won an Oscar for co-writing L.A. Confidential and later wrote Mystic River and Man on Fire, while his directing credits include A Knight's Tale, 42 and Legend.

Jones previously worked with Helgeland on Finestkind, but Outside Man marks the first time he and Ice Cube have led a film together.

With worldwide distribution now secured and cameras preparing to roll, the biggest unanswered question is when audiences will actually see them together. A release date has yet to be announced.