Cronenberg to direct 'Eastern Promises'

LONDON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- David Cronenberg has been tapped by Focus Features and BBC Films to direct the London thriller, "Eastern Promises."

Steve Knight's script is in the same seamy vein as his previous British production, "Dirty Pretty Things," Daily Variety reported Tuesday.

The story revolves around a young midwife trying to find out the identity of a Russian girl who dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve. She finds out the girl was a prostitute and gets caught up in a sex-trafficking ring.

Cronenberg and Knight are honing the script with shooting expected to being in the fall.