Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino in final negotiations to co-star in legal thriller

Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino may finally star in a film together: Both actors are in final negotiations to headline a legal thriller called Beyond Deceit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Also in negotiations for leading roles in the film are Dan Stevens (The Guest), Malin Akerman (Watchmen), and Byung-hun Lee (I Saw The Devil).

The film tells the story of an ambitious lawyer (Stevens) who takes a case against a ruthless executive of a pharmaceutical company (Hopkins) but somehow finds himself the prime suspect in a murder case. Pacino would play the head of the law firm and a mentor to the young lawyer.

It’s not clear from the synopsis if Hopkins and Pacino would actually share any scenes—though maybe they could meet for coffee at the film’s halfway point, as Pacino is wont to do with fellow screen legends. But we like the sound of Hopkins playing someone ruthless again, as it’s been a while since the actor has eaten someone alive, metaphorically or otherwise.

Beyond Deceit will mark the directorial debut of screenwriter Shintaro Shimosawa, who has myriad writing credits on TV shows like Intelligence, The Following, and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, indicating that he knows his way around a procedural. Shimosawa rewrote the film’s original script by Adam Mason and Simon Boyes, perhaps to add the Beyond part of the story. Really, if you think Hopkins and Pacino are going to merge their talents on a project that’s only about regular deceit, you clearly don’t belong in Hollywood.