Vincent Gallo will play alongside Javier Bardem in Francis Ford Coppola’s family drama “Tetro” for American Zoetrope.

Gallo will portray the title character in the Coppola-written story about a family “torn apart by rivalries and betrayal,” the Hollywood Reporter informs. He will play the elder brother, while newcomer Alden Ehrenreich plays the younger brother who searches for him in Buenos Aires.

Fresh Academy Award winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) plays an Argentinean literary critic, and Maribel Verdu (“Y tu mama tambien,” “Pan's Labyrinth”) plays Tetro’s longtime love interest.

The project has a budget of less than $15 million; principal photography begins March 31 on location in Buenos Aires. A 2009 release with an as-yet-undetermined distributor is planned, the Reporter adds.

Of Gallo’s casting, the five-time Oscar winner said: “I know choosing Vincent Gallo to star in my film will raise a few eyebrows, but I'm betting that seeing him in the role will open some eyes,” as quoted by trade paper Variety.

The same source adds Coppola hinted the dramatic story was based on “nonfiction experiences” but did not call it autobiographical.

Coppola last released “Youth Without Youth” in December 2007, an adaptation of the Mircea Eliade novella of the same name.

Some of his collaborators on “Youth” are joining Coppola for “Tetro,” such as cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., composer Osvaldo Golijov, editor Walter Murch and executive producers Anahid Nazarian and Fred Roos, per Variety.

As to Gallo, he found notoriety after directing 1998’s “Buffalo ‘66” and 2003’s “The Brown Bunny”; the first won critical acclaim, while the second is controversial due to its explicit sexual content.