Tim Robbins' directing credits have been sparse in recent years, but he's about to step behind the camera again for City Of Lies. The spy drama is based on the short story Wenceslas Square by Arthur Phillips. 

The narrative takes place in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War, and revolves around two spies on different missions, who find time to fall in love when their paths cross. Shouldn't they have been more focused on photographing the secret papers (or whatever)? Can't get the staff these days.

The film was originally earmarked for Phillip Noyce (Salt), but Robbins has picked it up after Noyce's departure. Robbins has recently directed a couple of episodes of HBO's Treme, but this will be his first really major behind-the-camera project since the triple-whammy of Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock in the 1990s.

Screenwriting team Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (all three Chronicles Of Narnia, Captain America, Pain and Gain) are currently at work on the script. There's no start date yet, but if you fancy reading Wenceslas Square in its original form, it's in the collection Wild East: Stories From The Last Frontier, published in the US by Random House.