Brazilian director Karim Ainouz, here in Directors Fortnight with The Silver Cliff (O Abismo Prateado) is attached to direct 1950s French Riviera thriller The Beauty Of Sharks with Faye Dunaway in talks to play a supporting role.

Shooting is set to start in summer 2012 and LA-based Royal Road principals Filip Jan Rymsza and Liz Federowicz will produce with Mary Aloe serving as executive producer. Rymsza and Rob Green wrote the screenplay about a gigolo caught in a confidence trick. 

“Karim has such a unique vision,” Rymsza said. “Whether he’s exploring his own life or that of his characters, his interest and sympathies are with those on the fringe. While the script’s setup is pure Hitchcock and its milieu smacks of Visconti, Karim will give the material a Nicholas Ray-esque outsider bend. I can’t wait to bring his sensitivity and aesthetic to a larger, English-speaking audience.”

“I have been looking for an English language script for a long time; one that was close to my heart and to the cinema I admire,” Ainouz said. “Since the first time I read The Beauty Of Sharks I could see its cinematic potential.”

Ainouz’s next project Praia Do Futuro is a Brazil-Germany co-production and is set to start in November.

Royal Road are also preparing the $5m thriller A Girl And A Gun, which is set to go in September in LA.

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