Ewan McGregor to take director’s chair in Philip Roth’s American Pastoral film

Trainspotting star Ewan McGregor has signed up to direct his first big-screen movie, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel American Pastoral.

The actor, 43, will also star in the film alongside Hollywood actresses Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning, Variety reports.

The Scottish star said that working on the movie would be “a great privilege”.

“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,” the Star Wars actor said.

Tom Rosenberg, chief executive of film production company Lakeshore, said: “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.”

Filming on the project is expected to begin in the US in September.

Published in 1997, American Pastoral follows the story of Seymour “Swede” Levov, a once legendary high school athlete whose life is turned upside down when his daughter becomes radicalised during the Vietnam War.