Joaquin Phoenix has finalized a deal to star in the next film directed by Woody Allen, which I’m hearing is going to begin shooting in July. As per usual there’s not much known Allen’s projects before they really get going, but his past few have included gangbusters Midnight In Paris and Blue Jasmine, the latter landing its star Cate Blanchett the Best Actress Oscar this year. The writer-director’s next pic in his seemingly endless pipeline is romantic comedy Magic In The Moonlight, about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle in the south of France in the 1920s against a backdrop of wealthy mansions, the Côte d’Azur, jazz joints and fashionable spots for the wealthy of the Jazz Age.

Phoenix is coming off Spike Jonze’s Oscar-nommed Her, which earned the actor a Golden Globe nom, and he just finished Inherent Vice for Paul Thomas Anderson. He his repped by WME and attorney David Weber.