If things get finalised, the actor will star alongside Bradley Cooper in the film, which is del Toro’s follow-up project to his Oscar-winning feature The Shape of Water.
Cooper, who last featured in his directorial debut A Star is Born, boarded the project in June. Before him, Leonardo DiCaprio was circling the project, reported Variety.
Guillermo del Toro will direct the new film from a script he has co-written with Kim Morgan. The movie is based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.
The story follows Stanton Carlisle, an ambitious young con-man who teams up with a female psychiatrist who is even more corrupt than he is. At first, they enjoy success fleecing people with their mentalist act, but then she turns the tables on him, out-manipulating the manipulator.
Gresham’s novel previously adapted into a 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power.
Guillermo del Toro will also produce the project with J Miles Davis. The movie will be distributed by Fox Searchlight.
Blanchett, 50, is currently awaiting the release of Richard Linklater-directed Where’d You Go Bernadette?. She is also working on the FX limited series Mrs America.