The word out of Cannes is writer/director Vincenzo Natali’s Neuromancer, adapted from the William Gibson novel, will be a Canadian-European coproduction.

Coproducers Seven Arts Pictures and GFM Films said the feature will be shot in Canada, Istanbul, Tokyo, and London.

Visual effects work has already started, with principal photography on Neuromancer set to start in the first quarter of 2012.

Kate Hoffman, COO of Seven Arts, in a press release issued in Cannes said the sci-fi flick has been pre-bought by distributors in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Poland and the Middle East.

The film’s producers are in advanced discussions with distributors in the US, Germany, Britain and France, she added.

“Response to this cult cyberspace thriller has been tremendous and the film ticks a lot of boxes with distributors,” Hoffman said.

How the current talks with European distributors conclude may decide how the international coproduction is structured.

Natali’s last film, Splice, was a Canadian-French coproduction.