David Cronenberg's next film will be an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, re-teaming him with Crash producer Jeremy Thomas.

Cronenberg will shoot the project in Germany in mid-2008, after he finishes work on his opera version of The Fly.

The Talking Cure follows the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and their complicated relationships with a brilliant and beautiful patient, Sabina Spielrein.

No cast is confirmed yet for the UK/Canada co-production.

Thomas will produce for his Recorded Picture Company, with sister company HanWay Films handling sales.

HanWay CEO Tim Haslam said there was strong buyer interest in pre-sales here at the AFM. 'It's a brilliant screenplay, a brilliant writer and a brilliant director,' he said. 'It's extraordinary Cronenberg material and that's what we're selling it on.'

Hampton, who is tipped as an Oscar nominee for his adaptation of Atonement, first presented the play in London in 2003. Ralph Fiennes, who starred in Cronenberg's Spider, played Jung on the London stage.