Sir Ben Kingsley is apparently itching to be in as many films as humanly possible. He’s currently filming Ender’s Game, he’s set to play the villain in Iron Man 3 which begins shooting next month, he’ll film the crime thriller Cut Bank this fall, and he recently signed on to star in the indie sci-fi comedy Convention. Now comes word that Kingsley will star alongside Stellan Skarsgard, Tom Payne (Luck), and Olivier Martinez (S.W.A.T.) in the medieval period drama The Physician. The film is based on Noah Gordon’s novel and centers on a healer traveling across Europe in the 11th century.
Payne will take the lead role of Rob Cole, a physician searching for “the scientific truth of illness and healing in a medieval world dominated by religion and superstition.â€Â Kingsley will play the so-called “doctor of all doctors†while Skarsgard will play Cole’s first mentor. Hit the jump for more, including a synopsis for the book.
Per THR, German director Philip Stoelzl (North Face) is onboard to direct from a script by Jan Berger. Production begins in Morocco and Germany next month, but with Kingsley taking a supporting role it’s conceivable that he could move straight into Iron Man 3 after his work on The Physician. Ready a synopsis for Gordon’s novel below.
In the 11th century, Rob Cole left poor, disease-ridden London to make his way across the land, hustling, juggling, peddling cures to the sick—and discovering the mystical ways of healing. It was on his travels that he found his own very real gift for healing—a gift that urged him on to become a doctor. So all consuming was his dream, that he made the perilous, unheard-of journey to Persia, to its Arab universities where he would undertake a transformation that would shape his destiny forever. [Amazon]