Robert Duvall has announced to Entertainment Weekly that he has joined the Billy Bob Thornton-directed indie film project Jayne Mansfield's Car.

"It's another Southern tale," says Duvall. "It puts Tennessee Williams in the back seat - it's that brilliant."

"It's about a guy in between WWI and WWII who raises a family after his wife left him for an Englishman and moved to England," says Duvall. "When the wife dies, she asks to be brought back to Alabama to be buried, and at that point the character hasn't seen her in 20 or 30 years. The two families - her original family she abandoned and her English family - meet and then things get really interesting."

Billy Bob Thornton co-wrote the script with Tom Epperson, and will also star in the film.

Jayne Mansfield's Car will start production this summer.