Belgian actress Cécile de France has agreed to star in Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, according to Variety.
The movie, a meditation on death involving the parallel stories of three people, takes place in Paris, London, Hawaii, and San Francisco. France portrays a journalist who has a brush with death, starring opposite Matt Damon, who is also in Eastwood's Invictus.
Two months ago, Movie Line claimed to have obtained a copy of the script for Hereafter and described the plot in extensive detail. The site also referred to Damon's character as a "handsome, shy, soft-spoken" factory worker who can see the dead.
Production on Hereafter began last month, and Warner Bros. has slated the movie for a December 2010 release. Invictus is due this December, placing both upcoming Eastwood projects at the heart of Oscar season. No doubt a decision driven by Eastwood's recent Oscar success — five of his last six directorial efforts have received at least one Academy Award nomination. Strangely enough, the most financially successful of the six, Gran Torino, was the only shutout.