Ewan McGregor will reportedly direct as well as star in 'American Pastoral'
Actor Ewan McGregor will reportedly star in and direct a movie adaptation of Philip Roth鈥檚 novel 鈥�American Pastoral.鈥�
According to , McGregor will star in the movie with 鈥淣oah鈥� actress Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning of 鈥淓ffie Gray.鈥� McGregor is portraying Swede Levov, who inherits his family's factory and was a high school athletic star. Connelly is portraying Swede鈥檚 wife, Dawn, while Fanning is playing his daughter Merry, who becomes a troubled teenager.聽
鈥淧astoral鈥� won the Pulitzer Prize. Upon its release, Monitor writer Joanna Angelides called the book an 鈥渆ngagingly ironic but overanalyzed look at what can go wrong for a man who tries to do things right.鈥�
Phillip Noyce of "Salt" was set to direct the movie, according to Deadline, but has departed the project. This will be McGregor鈥檚 directorial debut for a feature-length movie.聽
McGregor has recently starred in such films as 鈥淢ortdecai,鈥� 鈥淎ugust: Osage County,鈥� and 鈥淛ack the Giant Slayer.鈥� He has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical twice, once for the 2001 movie 鈥淢oulin Rouge!鈥� and again for the 2011 film 鈥淪almon Fishing in the Yemen.鈥� He also appeared in the 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� prequel trilogy and starred in such movies as the 1996 film 鈥淭rainspotting鈥� and 2003鈥檚 鈥淏ig Fish.鈥澛�
Roth is also the author of such works as 鈥淧ortnoy鈥檚 Complaint,鈥� 鈥淭he Plot Against America,鈥� and 鈥淕oodbye, Columbus.鈥� A film based on his book 鈥淭he Humbling鈥� stars Al Pacino and was released this past January. The author said in 2012 that he was retiring and told a reporter in 2014 that a reading he did was 鈥渁bsolutely the last appearance I will make on any public stage, anywhere.鈥� He was the subject of a documentary titled "Philip Roth: Unmasked," which was released in 2013.聽
