Ananova:

John Cusack has teamed up with Matrix star Monica Bellucci for a new comedy thriller.

In Ice Harvest, Cusack will play a dim lawyer who attempts to embezzle money from his mob superiors but is double-crossed by the owner of a strip club, played by Bellucci.

Billy Bob Thornton will also star in the movie, which will be directed by Harold Ramis.

Filming of the thriller - which is set in a snowbound town on Christmas Eve - is due to begin in Cusack's hometown of Chicago in April.

Italian actress Bellucci next appears in Mel Gibson The Passion of the Christ, in which she plays Mary Magdalene.