Oscar winner Adrien Brody will replace Ray Liotta as the detective character in cult horror-master Dario Argento's up-coming English language film Giallo, which starts shooting in Turin as of mid-May.

The casting update was confirmed by Giallo producer Rafael Primorac of LA-based Arramis Films, who told ScreenDaily.com the film had to be entirely re-cast.

'The film became a bigger project with a bigger star in the lead and was re-cast to reflect that. It was a classic Giallo and now it has become a sophisticated thriller,' Primorac said.

Giallo is the Italian word for 'yellow' and used to designate the thriller genre here.

French actress Emmanuelle Seigner (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) has also come on board to replace Asia Argento, an habitue of her father's films who has stepped aside because she is pregnant. Seigner will take the role of a flight attendant who pairs with the detective (Brody) on a race against time to save her sister, a super model (Elsa Pataky), from a serial killer who has snatched her.

A serial killer role originally taken by Vincent Gallo will also be re-cast. Primorac says director Argento will select an Italian actor for this role.

Regarding Brody, Primorac says, 'We considered Adrien Brody before but he could not do it because he had a conflict, so we went to Ray Liotta - Adrien was always first choice. Liotta had some health issues and we were left without an actor so we called Adrien again.'

Primorac underlines 'Dario's strong suit is his visual way of story telling,' calling this Argento's strongest cast to date.

Argento's work is enjoying a resurgence after the director concluded a twenty year witch's trilogy that started with Suspiria and Inferno and concluded with Mother of Tears: The Third Mother last year.

Giallo was written by American writers Sean Keller and Jim Agnew, the project is considered an English-language homage to the genre Argento pioneered.

The picture's budget has also risen from $7-8m to $10m. Richard Rionda Del Castro's Hannibal Pictures, which financed the film, has already sold to several territories, including The Weinstein Company for the US.

Claudio Argento will executive produce for Argento's Opera Film and product placement executive Oscar Generale will be bringing on a major fashion designer expected for a cameo.

Giallo will shoot entirely on location in Turin for 30 days.

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