Madrid – Two of Europe’s primo production players, Studiocanal & Working Title, are teaming to produce thriller “Two Faces of January,” the directorial debut of “Drive” scribe Hossein Amini.

Kirsten Dunst has joined Viggo Mortensen & Oscar Isaac to complete key cast.

As on their groundbreaking 2011 partnership, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Working Title will produce and Studiocanal finance, distributing in U.K., Germany & France and selling the rest of the world, said Studiocanal chairman-CEO Olivier Courson.

Tom Sternberg (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”) will produce with Working Title’s Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner & Robyn Slovo (“Tinker Tailor”). Sternberg originally had the rights to “Two Faces,” which was once set up at Mirage with Sidney Pollack and Anthony Minghella developing with Amini.

Written by Amini, & adapting a Patricia Highsmith novel of the same title, “Two Faces” rolls Oct 1., shooting on location in Greece & Turkey, with some U.K. studio work, Bevan said.

Initially set in Athens, it turns on a con man (Mortensen) who murders a Greek policeman, quite possibly by accident. His wife (Dunst) & an American tutor (Isaac) help to extricate him from his bind. On the lam, the three flee Athens to the Greek Islands and finally Istanbul as the pressure of the situation bears down on them.

“This is totally Patricia Highsmith’s world, turning on the two male leads’ complicated relationship, like ‘Strangers on a Train’ or ‘The Talented Mr Ripley,'” said Ron Halpern, Studiocanal, exex V.P., international productions & acquisitions.

“Two Faces” is a “story about love dying: What it’s like to fall out of love with someone you still feel a certain loyalty to,” Amini told Variety.

Following on “Tinker Tailor,” helmed by Swede Tomas Alfredson & Dan Mazer’s “I Give It a Year,” now in post, “Two Faces” continues Studiocanal’s new film-by-film relationship with Working Title.

Coming in at around “Tinker Tailor’s” just-under $30 million budget, “Two Faces” won’t need to rely on the U.S. market for initial financing.

“This is a really good European-location movie with a quasi-American story,” said Bevan.

“With this sort of movie, & it’s not dissimilar to ‘Tinker,’ you can get a great cast, a great script, a good director, you can shoot in a sensible amount of time,& in a sensible way,” he added.

Amini won Academy Award & WGA noms for Henry James adaptation “The Wings of the Dove.”

“Honestly, this isn’t about directing. This is about directing this film. I’ve wanted to do so for at least 15 years. It’s been my one obsession,” Amini said.

Mortensen is repped by Jennifer Rawlings at Principato-Young Ent., Dunst & Isaac by UTA’s Theresa Peters.

By John Hopewell & Elsa Keslassy, Variety.com

Very exciting news. I’ve added to the gallery candid pics of Kirsten leaving the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles yesterday.