The project is a cinema adaptation of the book by Jose Saramago about a town where everyone goes blind. Filming is set to begin this summer in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Ruffalo will play a doctor who loses his vision after examining the people of the town. Don McKellar wrote the screenplay.
Ruffalo, who recently starred in the film Zodiac, will soon be finishing work on the films Reservation Road from filmmaker Terry George, Where the Wild Things Are from Spike Jonze and Brothers Bloom from Ryan Johnson.