Karen Gillan joins Sleeping Dogs cast

Karen Gillan has joined the cast of 'Sleeping Dogs'.

The 35-year-old actress is to star in the crime drama film alongside the previously announced Russell Crowe.

Marton Csokas, Harry Greenwood and Thomas M Wright are also set to feature in the movie from director Adam Cooper that will begin filming in Australia next month.

The movie is an adaptation of the acclaimed novel 'The Book of Mirrors' by E.O. Chirovici with Cooper and Bill Collage writing the script together.

Crowe will play Roy Freeman, a former homicide detective undergoing cutting-edge treatment for Alzheimer's who is tasked with re-examining a brutal murder case from his past – the grisly killing of a college professor (Csokas).

Fighting to get his memory back, the detective enlists his former partner to help him revisit the investigation. The pair encounter a magnetic and mysterious woman (Gillian) and a horrific reality that changes the detective's view of the world in the blink of an eye.

Karen will return as Nebula in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) blockbuster 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' and heaped praise on the script from director James Gunn.

The former 'Doctor Who' star said: "I read that script with Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis.

"We read it together and we both cried and laughed, but there were full tears. It’s incredible, I think it’s James’ strongest work yet with the Guardians and it’s just brilliant.

"It’s brilliant and it’s emotional and it’s funny and it’s all of those things that you want."