Bauer Martinez Studios has assembled an international cast to join Andy Garcia in Modigliani, a $12m picture about the last days in the life of the famous artist that is scheduled to start shooting in Bucharest on May 25.

Elsa Zylberstein will play Jeanne Hebuterne, Omid Djalili will play Picasso, Eva Herzigova will play Picasso's wife Olga, Miriam Margolyes will play Gertrude Stein and Susie Amy will play Beatrice Hastings.

The film is to be directed by Mick Davis and is being produced by Andre Djaoui, Philippe Martinez and Alan Latham. Antony Blakey is executive producer.

Meanwhile, Italian state-owned outfit Istituto Luce has also boarded the film as a co-producer and will own Italian rights to the picture.

Luce has a 20% stake in the production and will co-produce alongside Tilde Corsi's Rome outfit R&C Produzioni, the producer behind current Italian box office hit Facing Windows.

Modigliani joins a fast expanding international production slate at Luce, whose new chief executive Luciano Sovena has committed to spending Euros 8m on feature film production this year. That slate already includes Cachet, the next film by Austrian director Michael Haneke which is set to star Juliette Binoche and is scheduled to shoot in August in France.