Josh Lucas
© AFP/Getty Images/FileLOS ANGELES (AFP) - Beacon Pictures has lined up actor Josh Lucas to star in the movie as the Wall Street Journal journalist killed after being kidnapped in the Pakistani city of Karachi in January 2002 where he was investigating Islamic militancy.
Filmmaker Kip Williams, who made "Door in the Floor," will direct the as yet untitled movie, according to entertainment industry bible Daily Variety.
In his book, Levy described his own risky journey to Pakistan to investigate Pearl's disappearance and outlines his theory that Pearl may have uncovered complicity between the Pakistani secret services and Al-Qaeda.
And the philosopher is to take a role in the movie, playing a US television reporter who eschews the trappings of media celebrity in a bid to find out what happened to Pearl, Variety said.
Production on the film is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year and location scouts are already eyeing areas of Morocco, Dubai, India, Libya and Tunisia for filming, the daily said.
The movie's screenplay -- featuring a fictionalized version of Pearl to avoid any clash with a film version of a book by the reporter's widow, Marianne Pearl -- will be written by New York Times Magazine journalist Peter Landesman.
Lucas, 34, has had roles in such films as "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), "Sweet Home Alabama" (2002) with Reese Witherspoon, "Secondhand Lions" with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall and 2003's "Wonderland" opposite Val Kilmer.
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