Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are set to star in Touchstone Pictures' The Prestige. The movie will serve as Batman Begins helmer Christopher Nolan's next directorial outing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The script, based on Christopher Priest's 1996 novel of the same name, was adapted by Nolan's brother, Jonathan, who also wrote the short story on which Christopher's Nolan's breakout movie, Memento, was based on.

Shooting for The Prestige will begin in January. The movie, that has a budget around the $40 million range, will be domestically distributed by Touchstone, while Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute it internationally.

The actors will play two rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London, who battle each other for trade secrets. The title refers to the residue left after a magician's successful trick.


Meanwhile, the Batman Begins star Christian Bale is currently shooting Rescue Dawn in Thailand for Werner Herzog, and Hugh Jackman, who will next be seen in Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, is filming for X-Men 3.