Scenes from a movie starring Josh Hartnett of "Black Hawk Down" and the Showtime series "Penny Dreadful" and Margarita Levieva from the HBO drama "The Deuce" are expected to begin filming Thursday in the Birmingham metro area.

The movie, "Inherit the Viper," is described as a crime thriller centered around the prescription drug epidemic in West Virginia, according to the Hollywood trade publication Variety.

Casting directors are looking for actors, models and other talent to work on scenes that will be filmed in Birmingham from Dec. 7 through Dec. 13, according to a post on the Project Casting website. More details are available on the website.

Swiss filmmaker Anthony Jerjen is making his feature film directing debut in "Inherit the Viper," which is based on an original screenplay by Andrew Crabtree, according to the movie website Deadline Hollywood.

Hartnett and Levieva play West Virginia siblings who support themselves by dealing drugs, but when they try to get out of the business, they discover it is vicious cycle to escape, according to Deadline Hollywood.

"'Inherit the Viper' is a visceral story of a family fighting to escape its destiny," producer Michel Merkt said in the Deadline Hollywood report.

It is at least the third Hollywood production to film in the Birmingham area in the past few months.

"Bigger," a drama about the pioneers of the sport of competitive bodybuilding, filmed here earlier this fall, and this past summer, John Travolta and Shania Twain were in the Birmingham area to film the dirt-track racing movie "Trading Paint."