In news akin to "Johnny Depp in Tim Burton movie" in the surprising stakes, Penelope Cruz has just officially signed on for Pedro Almodovar's next film, the romantic comedy Los Amantes Pasajeros. And confirming what we'd all assumed for ages, she's also now confirmed as part of Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy's The Counsellor.

The Almodovar film will shoot first, over the summer. The title translates as something like Brief or Fleeting Lovers, but some sources are reporting an English-language moniker of Standby Lovers, which makes sense in the context of a film thought to be about a brief encounter on an aeroplane. Except, if they were on standby wouldn't they be in the departure lounge?

Whatever, it's Cruz's fifth film with the Spanish auteur, by our reckoning, following Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Volver and Broken Embraces, and it co-stars a host of other Pedro regulars, including Paz Vega, Javier Camara, Cecilia Roth and Lola Duenas.

The Counsellor meanwhile (with apologies to our American readers for that extra L), will shoot in the autumn. Cruz's actual role has still not been officially announced, so we don't definitely know whether she's playing femme fatale Malkina or taking the smaller role of Michael Fassbender’s fiancée, Laura. The rumour mill suggests the latter though, with Cameron Diaz nabbing the other.