The Oscar-nominated Australian actress, Cate Blanchett, is to play the journalist, Veronica Guerin, who was murdered in Dublin in 1996, in a film to be made by one of Hollywood's most powerful producers, Jerry Bruckheimer.
It is based on a screenplay by the US-based screenwriter, Carol Doyle, who was born and raised in Dublin.
This will be the second feature film to deal with the journalist's life and death, following When the Sky Falls, which starred Joan Allen as Guerin. The new film, which is titled Chasing the Dragon: The Veronica Guerin Story, will be made in Dublin later this year by director Joel Schumacher, whose films include St Elmo's Fire, Falling Down, The Client, and Batman Forever.
Last year Schumacher discovered the young Irish actor, Colin Farrell, when he gave him his breakthrough US role in Tigerland, and they recently worked together again on the thriller, Phone Booth.
From Sydney, Cate Blanchett received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 film, Elizabeth. She went on to feature in Pushing Tin and The Talented Mr Ripley. Her latest film, The Gift, in which she plays a small-town psychic asked to find a missing woman, opens here in March.