Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford Commit An American Crime

The luminous Catherine Keener - on something of a hot streak since The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Capote - will star in An American Crime, based on the true story of a suburban housewife who kidnapped a teenage girl and kept her locked up in a basement in 1960s Indiana.

Rising star Ellen Page (X3, Hard Candy) portrays the abductee, and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Studio 60) will play a prosecuting attorney.

James Franco (Flyboys) also stars for gay director Tommy O'Haver, whose credits include Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss and Ella Enchanted.

And if it all sounds rather dark, just look to lesbian super-producer Christine Vachon's attachment to the project - she's good at getting that kind of stuff made.

Anticipate this twisted drama to surface in theaters sometime in 2007.