Action heavyweights Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are expected to briefly share the screen together in this summer's macho brawl sequel, The Expendables 2. However, it's an upcoming prison escape thriller titled The Tomb which - as producer Mark Canton (300, Immortals) puts it - will truly feature the pair "going Mano-a-mano" like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino did in Michael Mann's Heat.

No great prison flick is complete without a formidable thespian also onboard to portray the film's warden, and Canton recently confirmed that The Tomb has indeed secured such a fitting supporting player - in the form of Person of Interest leading man Jim Caviezel.

Caviezel's star meter has followed somewhat of a curious trajectory over the past fifteen years or so. Despite his turning in solid performance after performance in such acclaimed auteur efforts as Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line - along with more popular mainstream titles like Frequency and Deja Vu - not to mention, the actor literally played Jesus Christ himself in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ - Caviezel has only managed to earn a limited (if loyal) fan following.

The Tomb isn't going to be a potential breakout vehicle for Caviezel either; it's foremost being fashioned as the Ah-nuld and Sly show. However, the decision to pit those aging action icons against an antagonistic authority figure portrayed by a versatile character actor like Caviezel certainly reads as being a wise one. If nothing else, the acting personnel attached to this piece of genre entertainment inspires more confidence than the behind-the-scenes talent involved, including little-known screenwriter Miles Chapman, co-writer Jason Keller (Machine Gun Preacher, the upcoming Mirror Mirror) and director Mikael Håfström (Derailed, 1408, The Rite).

For a fairly detailed breakdown of the plot and characters featured in The Tomb, go HERE.

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Principal photography on The Tomb is slated to get underway by Spring 2012, with the intention of getting the film into theaters by 2013. We will let you know when the project lands an official release date.

Source: Mark Canton (via The Matthew Aaron Show and AICN)