It's strange that any actor signing on to Danny Boyle's next film, Trance, is going to have to wait quite a while to see the finished result of their work. The director plans to start production on the movie this year, however the reels will be put on a shelf until after the director is finished with his responsibility to the 2012 London Olympic Games. James McAvoy has already begun talks to take part in this strange schedule, and now he has two compatriots.

Deadline has learned that Rosario Dawson has signed on and Vincent Cassel is in negotiations for the Oscar winning filmmaker's next project. It would seem that Cassel will be replacing Michael Fassbender, who was unable to commit to the movie due to scheduling issues. In the heist film, McAvoy plays an "inside man" who orchestrates an art heist, but things go wrong when "he runs afoul of an accomplice." Dawson will play a woman who is caught between the two men. The site says that the film will bring the director back to his edgy roots when he was making films like Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. The expectation is that the film will be released in March 2013.

Reading the original story, the one thing that really caught my eye was that Dawson beat out a number of other actresses for her part, which is described as a "hotly contested female lead." Here's the question: was the role in high demand because it offered a chance to work with one of the best directors working today, or is it because the role is huge and could be a game changer for whoever gets the role? I'm really hoping that it's a mix of both, as Dawson is too talented to be stuck making movies like Zookeeper.