This is turning out to be a pretty good week for Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. While the reviews out of Cannes for his latest film, The Salesman, weren't quite up to the level of A Separation or The Past, it still took two awards, one for screenplay and another for Shahab Hosseini's lead performance. And now Farhadi is lining up his next project with two stars that should get him more attention here in the States than he's ever received.
Husband and wife duo Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are in talks for Farhadi's upcoming Spanish-language psychological thriller. Not much is known about it yet, but Variety says it will be set in rural Spain and follow a family of winemakers. An American actor will be added to the cast, as well, and you can expect that to be a highly-coveted role.
Farhadi is still finishing up the script but production is moving along swiftly with plans to shoot either next summer or fall. After not really working together much since Vicky Cristina Barcelona this marks the second recent project Bardem and Cruz have signed up for. They'll also be headlining a Pablo Escobar film directed by Fernando León de Aranoa. They last starred together in Ridley Scott's The Counselor but didn't share any scenes.
