Clive Owen has signed on to star in Columbia Pictures' action thriller The International which will be directed by Tom Tykwer.

Eric Singer wrote the screenplay for the film which is being produced by Mosaic Media Group's Charles Roven and Richard Suckle alongside Lloyd Phillips.

Owen will star as an obsessive Intepol agent who spearheads an investigation into one of the world's most high profile banking institutions in an attempt to expose them for arms brokering, corruption and murder.

John Woo, Terence Chang and Jeff Lurie act as executive producers on the project which is set to beging shooting in Europe in September.

Owen's recent credits include Children Of Men, Sin City, Inside Man and Derailed. He won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Closer in 2003. He will next be seen in New Line's Shoot 'Em Up and Universal's The Golden Age.

Roven is currently in production on Get Smart with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway for Warner Bros and The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, also for Warner.

He is in post-production on Lionsgate's Rogue with Jet Li and Jason Statham, The Bank Job with Statham and Saffron Burrows and Live! starring Eva Mendes.