
Ewan McGregor has signed on to co-star in the
Amelia Earhart biopic
Amelia for
Fox Searchlight.The actor joins
Hilary Swank,
Richard Gere and
Virginia Madsen who have already boarded the project, which
Mira Nair is helming, says
Variety.
The story centers on the legendary aviatrix (Swank) and chronicles her rise to fame, marriage to publisher George Putnam (Gere) and passionate affair with Gene Vidal (McGregor), father of author Gore Vidal. Ronald Bass penned the screenplay.
The filmmakers have long been trying to land McGregor but were having trouble working out the scheduling. The actor is about to wrap “I Love You, Philip Morris” alongside Jim Carrey and will begin work on Ron Howard’s “
Da Vinci Code” follow-up Angels and Demons in early June. McGregor will sandwich the Amelia role in between.
Amelia is currently shooting in Toronto.