Los Angeles: Actor Dwayne Johnson is set to star in and produce the action drama ‘Free Byrd’, the latest feature from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production banner Artists Equity.
Greg Kwedar, whose films ‘Sing Sing’ and ‘Train Dreams’ earned back-to-back Academy Award nominations, will direct the movie and rewrite the screenplay, according to Variety.
The screenplay was originally written by Jon Boyer and featured on the Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood's most-liked unproduced screenplays.
Filmmakers Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson later penned a revised draft.
Johnson, who will produce the project through his Seven Bucks Productions banner, said the story has become deeply personal to him and Kwedar.
“Free Byrd' is a gift in many ways. Emblematic of life's sacred beauty, as well as life's harsh and callous reality. The subject matter of 'Free Byrd' has become deeply personal to Greg Kwedar and myself as we've started to unpack this fateful journey together," Johnson said.
Gil Netter will produce the film alongside Fifth Season, Seven Bucks Productions and Ethos.
Affleck and Damon, who head Artists Equity, described Kwedar as "one of the most exciting writer-directors working today" and said they were looking forward to bringing the film to audiences.
Johnson was most recently seen in ‘The Smashing Machine’, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He will next appear in Disney's live-action ‘Moana’, followed by ‘Jumanji: Open World’ and Benny Safdie's ‘Lizard Music’.