At one point Queen of the Desert was due to star Naomi Watts, with the likes of Robert Pattinson and Jude Law also involved. However a few months ago Watts was out and Nicole Kidman signed on. Now Homeland star Damian Lewis is in talks to co-star for writer-director Werner Herzog, according to Deadline.
Kidman is attached to star as writer, explorer and archaeologist Gertrude Bell, who is credited with being central to the formation of the modern Middle East in the early 20th Century. Lewis will be Lt. Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie, an unhappily married British war hero who strikes up a torrid affair with Bell between 1913 and 1915. Tragically he was killed in active duty at Gallipoli.
Werner Herzog hopes to start shooting in December.