French producer Thomas Langmann has revived an ambitious two-film project about notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine, with Vincent Cassel starring, according to Variety.

Pathe has boarded the pics, taking French distribution and handling international sales on Death Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1, directed by Jean-Francois Richet.

Marion Cottillard and Eva Green are attached to play two women who were Mesrine's loves and also partners in crime at different points in his life. Script was penned by Abdel Raouf Dafri.

The Mesrine films will be shot simultaneously in Canada and France over 30 weeks starting in May. The story of the two-parter's journey has twists and turns worthy of the colorful life of Mesrine -- who robbed banks, kidnapped people and escaped from prison eight times, until French police gunned him down in 1979.