Director Milos Forman and producer Saul Zaentz are to reteam for the third time on a new film about the life and times of Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The previous collaborations between the two, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), both won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.

"Although we see each other eight to 12 times a year, our minds seem to meet every ten to 15 years," said Forman. "The genesis of Goya exists in the fact that our minds said hello about four years ago." "Two films together and neither one bad," added Zaentz. "How could we not go on and tempt fate'"

Michael Weller, who wrote the screenplays for Forman's Hair (1979) and Ragtime (1981) is currently writing the screenplay for the film about the painter who lived from 1746 to 1828.

Carlos Saura filmed a Goya biopic last year for Lolafilms called Goya In Bordeaux which was released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics. Starring Francisco Rabal as Goya, it covered his last years of self-imposed exile in France.

Shooting on the Goya film will take place in spring and summer 2002 in Spain. Zaentz will first complete production on The Seven Deadly Sins, a comedy which will shoot later this year under the direction of veteran Stanley Donen. Anthony Minghella, for whom Zaentz produced The English Patient, scripted the Donen film. Distribution is not yet attached to either film.

Forman's last film was Man In The Moon starring Jim Carrey which was released to modest success in late 1999; before that he made The People Vs Larry Flynt with Woody Harrelson in 1996. Since his US debut Taking Off in 1971, he has only made seven films.