Following their excellent drama The Kid with the Bike brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne are developing their follow-up and we’ve got exclusive details on the project. We recently sat down with Luc Dardenne to discuss the evolution of filmmaking using digital technology, the art of character development, the Oscars and their upcoming film, titled Deux Jours, Une Nuit (translated to Two Days, One Night).

The Palme d’Or-winning Belgian filmmaker exclusively revealed that Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard has just signed on to play the lead in their next project. Dardenne expressed a great deal of enthusiasm for the finished script and for their first-time directing Cotillard. The native francophone went on to say, “We are looking forward to collaborating with Marion. We are all big fans of each others work.”

Luc penned the original script alongside his brother and we’re told that the origins of the script stems from a project which the brothers began many years ago, but only last summer came full circle. We’ve also got word that Belgian actor Fabrizio Rongione (Rosetta, The Kid With the Bike) will co-star with Cotillard in a supporting role, as the story follows a wife (Cotillard) and husband (Rongione), who has a weekend to see colleagues and convince them to give up their bonus so she can keep her job.

The film is produced by Les Films du Fleuve and is set to begin shooting early this summer in the Wallonie region of Belgium. We’ll have more details about the production in our conversation with the filmmaker later this week, but in the meantime one can see Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts in Rust & Bone, which was co-produced by the Dardenne brothers’ production company.