Rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is in final negotiations to join Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in "Righteous Kill," a crime thriller that starts shooting in September.

The acting veterans play detectives tracking a serial killer, while Jackson would play a drug dealer who helps them with their investigation. Jon Avnet will direct the $60 million project.

Jackson has previously starred in "Get Rich or Die Tryin,'" a 2005 movie based on his drug-dealing past. He most recently appeared in last year's "Home of the Brave" and has three other films in the works: "The Ski Mask Way," "Live Bet" and "The Dance."

De Niro and Pacino will be onscreen together for nearly the entire film. The longtime friends shared no screen time in 1974's "The Godfather: Part II" and only one scene in 1995's "Heat."