Naomi Watts has signed to star with Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg's crime drama "Eastern Promises" for Focus Features says The Hollywood Reporter.

Watts will play Anna, a midwife at a London hospital who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when she tries to discover the identity of a 14-year-old girl who died whilst giving birth.

Viggo Mortensen is set to play the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai, a man with links to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is thrown into turmoil when he crosses paths with Anna.

Scripted by Steve Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things"), "Promises" was developed by the BBC before being picked up by Focus. Shooting begins in November once Watts finishes Michael Haneke's remake of psycho-drama "Funny Games".