EXCLUSIVE: Emmett/Furla Films has set Nicolas Cage for the action thriller I Am Wrath. This comes after Cage starred with John Cusack and Vanessa Hudgens in The Frozen Ground for Emmett/Furla co-founders Randall Emmett and George Furla. William Friedkin, who knows his way around taut crime thrillers with films like To Live And Die In LA and The French Connection, is circling to make the film his follow to Killer Joe, I’m told. Paul Sloan wrote the script based on a story by Yvan Gauthier. Lionsgate will release the film domestically on a film that begins production in February.

Following the murder of his wife, Stanley (Cage) finds that the police are unable to catch the perpetrators. He uncovers a thick plot of police corruption and realizes that he will have to find justice on his own. As he awakens to the level of degradation of the people sworn to serve and protect, we get a little Rage in the Cage as he becomes a vigilante out to destroy those who abuse their power.

Emmett and Furla are producing with Cheetah Vision Films’ Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Grindstone’s Barry Brooker & Stan Wertlieb, Vallelonga Productions’ Nick Vallelonga, Richard Salvatore & David Omston. Emmett/Furla is currently in production on the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg-starrer 2 Guns and starts production on the Peter Berg-directed Lone Survivor on October 2 with Wahlberg leading that ensemble cast.