The latest casting update about the Cold War-era thriller Billion Dollar Spy, backed by Walden Media, is that actor Vera Farmiga has joined and will star opposite Russell Crowe and Harry Lawtey.

The film, which will be helmed by Amma Asante, is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author David E Hoffman's book. The film is a story of Adolf Tolkachev (Crowe), who turns against the oppressive Soviet regime and becomes an informant for the CIA. He passes reams of top-secret Soviet intelligence, which gets turned down by the CIA, until he finds an able ally in the agent Tom Lenihan (Lawtey). In his newfound rigour, Tolkachev attempts to send a statement that true patriotism lies not in submitting one's will to a repressive regime but in challenging a government that vacates its duties and turns against its own people.

Vera Farmiga has been cast to play Tolkachev's wife Natasha. Known for her roles in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Departed (2006) and Orphan (2009), she rose in popularity with the Conjuring universe, where she, along with Patrick Wilson, plays the paranormal investigator couple Lorraine and Ed Warren. She is currently filming for the franchise's ninth film, The Conjuring: Last Rites.

Billion Dollar Spy is produced by Frank Smith, Benjamin Tappan and Cher Hawrysh for Walden Media and Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans for Weed Road Pictures. The film's principal photography is yet to begin.