Actor John Malkovich and producer Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms have unveiled the full cast of Dancer Upstairs which will include Juan Diego Botto, Laura Morante, Elvira Minguez and Abel Folk alongside Spanish star Javier Bardem.

The project, which marks Malkovich's directorial debut, will shoot in English on a budget of $4.8m (pts800m) from nine weeks from today (May 8). Locations include Madrid, Oporto and Quito.

The script, written by Nicholas Shakespeare based on his own novel, is a thriller about a police detective's search for a fictionalised guerrilla leader in an unidentified Latin American country. The story is based on the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman.

Dancer forms part of producer Gomez's ambitious English-language slate of films, which includes the recently wrapped Gaudi Afternoon, Chris Monger's That Girl From Rio and Joe Mantegna-starrer Off Key.

Nicole Mackey of Lolafilms UK is handling international sales on the slate while Endeavor was brought in last month to represent North America. Kinowelt picked up all four titles at the AFM for Germany and other European territories included in its new pan-European distribution network.