Already set to play Liberace in the Steven Soderbergh biopic Behind the Candelabra as well as star in the upcoming comedy Last Vegas, a busy Michael Douglas has added a third major role to his slate by signing on to play the former actor who became the 40th U.S. President, Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik.  Director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is likely to take on the film that was once a Ridley Scott-led project.

Reykjavik takes place in 1986 during the time Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev went to the Icelandic capital to work out a peace deal, with the devastating backdrop of Chernobyl.  (Gorbechev has not yet been cast).  For more on the film, hit the jump.

Though Newell will be taking over directing duties, Scott is still involved with the project as a producer, a position which he will share with David W. ZuckerMark Sennet and Stewart Mackinnon.  Kevin Hood (Becoming Jane) wrote the screenplay.

Reykjavik is an independent project being funded by Participant Media (who also backed the Oscar-winning Al Gore supported documentary An Inconvenient Truth) for $10 million dollars, according to THR. The company also has a slate of other biopics coming up soon, including one on Abraham Lincoln and another on Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Newell also has a project coming up, a new take on Charles Dickens' much-adapted Great Expectations, which will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

Filming for Reykjavik is set to begin in Germany in March.