Hollywood heavyweight Al Pacino is being touted for a lead role in a movie inspired by Canadian writer Malcolm Gladwell's non-fiction bestseller Blink.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, whose credits include Traffic and Syriana, will write and direct the film, according to industry reports from the Cannes Film Festival.

The plot revolves around an older man attempting to reconnect with his estranged son — a twentysomething drifter who displays the snap judgment decision-making ability Gladwell explores in his book.

An actor has yet to be cast as the son. However, producers are eying a fall start to the production.

Pacino was last seen alongside fellow Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro in the 2008 police thriller Righteous Kill.

The film project was initially attached to movie studio Universal, with Leonardo DiCaprio to star. However, the project has since become an independent production and is being shopped around to distributors at Cannes.

Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking was published in 2005.