Wagner Moura is to star in Flesh of the Gods.

The 49-year-old actor is to appear opposite Kristen Stewart in the vampire thriller, which will be directed by Mandy filmmaker Panos Cosmatos.

According to Deadline, Moura has taken over the lead role in the forthcoming film from Oscar Isaac, who is said to have exited the project due to a scheduling conflict.

Moura and Stewart will star as married couple Raoul and Alex in 1980s Los Angeles.

But life changes dramatically for the pair when they come across mysterious character Nameless and her party-hard group one night.

Andrew Kevin Walker has penned the screenplay from his and Cosmatos' story.

Stewart will also be one of the producers, alongside Maggie McLean, Adam McKay, Betsy Koch, Jonas Katzenstein, and Maximilian Leo.

Moura recently led the cast of The Secret Agent, and he made history with the film.

He became the first Brazilian to be nominated for the Best Actor accolade at this year's Academy Awards, but he lost out to Sinners star Michael B. Jordan.

However, he defeated Jordan, Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), and Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) to win Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama at this year's Golden Globes.

Upon accepting the gong, Moura paid tribute to "genius" director Kleber Mendonça Filhos and described The Secret Agent - which had won the Best Non-English Language Film award earlier in the evening - as "a film about memory, or the lack of memory, and generational trauma."

He added: "I think that if trauma can be passed along generations, values can too. So this goes to the ones who are sticking with their values in difficult moments."

Addressing his fellow nominees, he told them: "You are extraordinary actors.

"I share this with you. Thank you very much."