Riding his success with the blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Gary Oldman will join Kevin Costner in the upcoming action thriller, Criminal. The storyline centers on an attempt by the U.S. government to thwart a diabolical plot by implanting the memories and skills of a dead CIA operative into the mind and body of a dangerous and unpredictable prison inmate.

This far-fetched premise sounds like a recipe for international disaster. But the most difficult thing to swallow about the picture is that Costner has been cast as the jail bird, a thief who chooses to participate in the medical experiment as an alternative to prison. The character may be a stretch for the suave leading man, but this genre is familiar territory to Costner. Earlier this year he played a CIA agent in the thriller, 3 Days to Kill.

Oldman will play the CIA boss who heads the inventive strategy. The film also stars Eric Bana, fresh off his portrayal of Ralph Sarchie in this year’s Deliver Us From Evil.

Directing the project is Ariel Vromen, known for the 2012 crime biopic, The Iceman. The script was drafted by the screenwriting duo Douglas Cook and David Weisberg, the team responsible for penning such thrillers as Double Jeopardy and The Rock.