Ben Kingsley joins cast of Cut Bank

London - Sir Ben Kingsley and John Malkovich have signed up for crime thriller Cut Bank.

The acting pair will be joined in the movie by Michael Sheen, Teresa Palmer and The Lone Ranger star Armie Hammer, with Matt Shakman set to direct his first movie.

Screenwriter Roberto Patino is writing his first ever movie from a script that made the Black List in 2009, Deadline reports.

Frozen in time

The film tells the story of a former high school American football star who is now a young mechanic and looking to move out of his small town, which is frozen in time, but his attempts to relocate kick-starts a series of events that will change his life and Cut Bank's forever.

Dan Cohen, Mickey Barold and Ed Zwick are in line to produce the motion picture, which is expected to begin production in autumn later this year.

Sally Caplan, managing director of Entertainment One (eOne) - which is launching the project in Cannes - is "delighted" to be representing the movie at the event, and she praised the "top notch cast" attached to the film.

She said: "We at eOne Films International are proud and delighted to be representing Cut Bank.

"It's rare to find a project that is such a compelling read with top notch cast and an exciting new director attached."