Alex Cross is a 2012 American crime thriller film directed by Rob Cohen, and starring Tyler Perry as the title character, and Matthew Fox as the villain Picasso. The adapted screenplay was written by Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson. It is based on the 2006 novel Cross by James Patterson. It is the third installment of the Alex Cross film series, and was considered as a reboot of the series. The title character was previously portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001).