CANNES, France (Reuters):

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, two heavyweight actors of world cinema, will team up for only the second time on movie screens in a new film called Righteous Kill, the film's producers said yesterday.

Details were scarce as the deal to put the two stars together was sealed late Thursday, but Los Angeles-based independent producer Millennium Films said the long-time friends play police detectives tracking down a serial killer.

Oscar winners De Niro and Pacino have worked together once before in 1995's widely-touted Heat from director Michael Mann, and while both starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes on screen.

"You see those two icons on screen together for virtually the whole film," Millennium chief Avi Lerner told showbusiness news-paper The Hollywood Reporter about Righteous Kill.

De Niro, 63, and Pacino, 67, are considered two of the greatest U.S. actors of their generation. De Niro has won two Oscars for acting in 1980's Raging Bull and 1974's The Godfather Part II. Pacino won one acting Oscar for 1992's Scent of a Woman.

The new film is expected to begin shooting in August in Connecticut and New York.