Olympia Dukakis is in talks to join Shirley MacLaine on the dark comedy Poor Things, in what would be their first on-screen reunion in nearly 20 years.

The pair last starred together in 1989's box office smash Steel Magnolias. This time around the tone is very different: Poor Things is inspired by the recent spate of 'grandma gangs' involving geriatric women who perpetrate insurance fraud.

British film-maker Ashley Baron Cohen, the cousin of Sacha aka Ash, is being lined up to direct the debut production of Rob Hickman's Still Rolling Productions.

Hickman is producing along with MacLaine. Shooting is set to begin shortly in Santa Fe, New Mexico.