Ewan McGregor to make directorial debut with adaptation of Philip Roth's American Pastoral

Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning will co-star

(Getty)

Ewan McGregor is to make good on a dream he has had for years and direct a film, tackling Philip Roth's Pullitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral.

McGregor will also star in the film, alongside Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning.

"It’s a great privilege to be working with Lakeshore on Phillip Roth’s astounding novel ‘American Pastoral,'" McGregor said.

"I've wanted to direct for years and wanted to wait until I found a story that I ‘had’ to tell, and in this script I knew I had found that story."

"Ewan's talent goes far beyond his on-screen work, and we’re excited to be working with a director who is as passionate as we are about telling the story of ‘American Pastoral,'" Lakeshore CEO Tom Rosenberg added.

The screenplay was written by The Lincoln Lawyer scribe John Romano, with filming set to begin in Pittsburgh in September.

American Pastoral centres on a legendary high school athlete whose perfect life with his former beauty queen wife is shattered by his daughter committing an act of political terrorism.

A film version has been kicking around for some time, with Lakeshore optioning it in 2003 after Paramount's option lapsed.