Variety reports that Robert De Niro has signed on to star opposite Bradley Cooper in Relativity Media's new film The Dark Fields.

The Dark Fields follows a down-and-out Gotham writer (Cooper) who gains "possession of a designer drug that gives him newfound intelligence and success." De Niro is going to play a brilliant financial mogul who goes after Cooper's character.

Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is directing this project. Universal is distributing.

The film is based on a novel by Alan Glynn. Leslie Dixon wrote the screenplay.

The film will start shooting this May in Philadelphia.