Julia Roberts to star in Oscar winning movie remake

Los Angeles - Julia Roberts is to star in the remake of The Secret in Their Eyes.

The August: Osage County actress has been signed up to play the female lead in the upcoming Billy Ray-directed remake of the 2009 Argentine crime thriller, Deadline reports.

12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor is set for the male lead of a former MI-5 agent who returns to Boston on a joint task force with the FBI.

Roberts will play his friend and former partner whose daughter was murdered.

Ejiofor's character refuses to get over the crime and digs up the case years later when he thinks he's found the man who got away with it.

Gwyneth Paltrow has also been signed up to appear alongside Ejiofor and Roberts, who recently impressed in HBO series The Normal Heart.

The Secret in Their Eyes is scheduled to begin shooting in Los Angeles in October with Mark Johnson producing.

The original movie - which was directed by Juan Jose Campanella from a script based on Eduardo Sacheri's novel 'La pregunta de sus ojos The Question in Their Eyes - won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film at the 82nd Academy Awards.