Marc Forster’s drama Machine Gun Preacher has finally gotten its start date as well as some new co-stars.  Gerard Butler was already set to star as Sam Childers, a biker and drug dealer who found religion and fought against rebels in Uganda and the Sudan who kidnapped kids and forced them into lives of sex slavery or turned them into child soldiers.  According to Deadline, Lionsgate and Mandate International will distribute the film, and shooting will begin sometime this summer.  Michelle Monaghan will co-star as Sam Childers’ wife Lynn, who stays behind in Detroit while her husband goes to Africa to build an orphanage.  Michael Shannon is reportedly in talks to play a friend of Childers.  Marc Forster, Gary Safady, Craig Chapman, Robbie Brenner and Debora Giarranta will produce based on Jason Keller’s script, which is based on Sam Childers’ memoir.  Michelle Monaghan can next be seen in Sofia Coppola’s next film Somewhere and in Todd Phillips’ Due Date.

For a look at the real Sam Childers, hit the jump:

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