The work of Cosmopolis author Don DeLillo continues to inspire producer Paulo Branco, since he's now steaming ahead with an adaptation of DeLillo's The Body Artist. Pre-production on Body Art was announced back in December, along with a cast including Isabelle Huppert, Denis Lavant, and Cosmopolis director David Cronenberg in one of his rare acting roles. As if they weren't enough, we can now add Sigourney Weaver to the list.

The Body Artist - a slim 2001 novella following DeLillo's colossal 1997 Underworld - is often described as a ghost story, but is really not quite that. A meditation on perception, time and grief, the book features long passages in which characters make breakfast or stare at webcam footage of empty roads in Finland. It does, however, involve the enigmatic appearance of a young man in an apartment, who may or may not be real. Said mystery figure arrives in the life of Lauren Hartke, after the sudden suicide of her husband.

The Body Art of the film's title refers to the avant-garde physical performances Lauren practices; no tattoos here. Interestingly, the cast as already announced is beginning to look more extensive than the actual dramatis personae of the novel, so expect some sort of expansion for the screen. We'd predict that Weaver's role will still be a small one though.

Huppert is Lauren, with Cronenberg likely her ill-fated husband and Holy Motors' Lavant the man upstairs. Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love) is directing, and production starts in Portugal in the summer.