Samuel L Jackson and Juliette Binoche will work together in Country of My Skull, a drama set against the backdrop of South Africa's investigation into human rights abuses through the truth and reconciliation commission. The Hollywood Reporter says shooting on the project, which is being directed by The Tailor of Panama and Deliverance director John Boorman, is due to begin in South Africa in March. Jackson will play an American reporter who covers the hearings and clashes with Binoche's poet.

Kate Hudson is being line up to star in Can You Keep A Secret?, based on Sophie Kinsella's novel about a frightened airline passenger who confides in the man next to her without realising he is her employer. Hudson will next appear in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which will be released here later in the year. Other upcoming projects include Le Divorce and Loosely Based on a True Love Story.

John Woo's upcoming sci-fi thriller Paycheck has received a little extra help with news that DreamWorks is stepping in to share production costs with the film's original backer, Paramount Pictures. With the companies agreeing to split domestic and foreign distribution rights, shooting is expected to begin in spring with a release planned by the end of the year, Variety reports.

Ashton Kutcher and Shawn Levy, the star and director of America's surprise number one Just Married, are to reunite for the American football drama Overtime. The story focuses on an ageing quarterback who competes for a team place against a resentful son from a former love. Variety says that while the father is determined to get to know his son, the latter is consumed with the desire for revenge on the man who abandoned him and his mother. Levy seems to be on the fast track to success and recently agreed to direct Steve Martin in a remake of the 1950s family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen.