Eddie Murphy to star in 'Tower Heist'

LOS ANGELES  - Eddie Murphy will star opposite Ben Stiller and Alan Alda in "Tower Heist," a comedy being directed by Brett Ratner.

In a story ripped from recent financial headlines, the overworked manager (Stiller) of a posh high-rise residence leads a team of the building's operations and maintenance workers on an intricately choreographed heist targeting its penthouse tenant, a Wall Street capitalist (Alda) who defrauded the rank-and-file staff of their pensions.

Murphy, who is also executive producing the Universal Pictures feature, is playing a safe-cracking thug who may or may not betray Stiller and his gang.

The project has gone through several incarnations in its long road to the screen, including one that involved a predominantly black cast that included Murphy and Chris Rock.

The latest "Tower" script is Jeff Nathanson's rewrite of a screenplay by Ted Griffin.

Murphy's recent movies have included "Imagine That," "Meet Dave" and "Norbit."