LONDON -- Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish and Sean Bean have leapt aboard writer/director Menno Meyjes’ new Viking epic adventure Last Battle Dreamer, to be shot later this year and backed by Future Films with Handmade Films International as sales agent.

Ryan Phillippe (Crash, Flags of our Fathers), who is currently starring in Breach from director Billy Ray and in London to begin shooting Gerard McMorrow’s Franklyn will star as 7th century Viking warrior ‘Thorfinn’ who, along with his older brother, the battle-scarred ‘Hakon’ played by Sean Bean (The Hitcher, Lord of the Rings) brutally invades the coast of Britain.  Thorfinn encounters Lady Edith, a stunning but mysterious widow - Abbie Cornish (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Candy).  To save her life and their passionate love Thorfinn must ultimately turn on those he once called brother to defend the beautiful Edith and the land he came to ravage. 

Phillippe is repped by David Guillod at UTA, Bean and Cornish by Tracy Brennan and Hilda Queally at CAA.  Phillippe and Cornish will next be seen together in Kimberly Pierce’s Stop Loss.

“Last Battle Dreamer is a love story written in fire and blood,” says writer/director Menno Meyjes.  “You need actors with larger than life talent to play those parts.  Ryan, Abbie and Sean are those people.”

Producer Albert Martínez Martín of Future Films adds, “This is our second of what we hope will be many feature films with Menno at the helm.    With such a magnificent cast and Menno’s panoramic vision, it’s exciting to be producing such an epic project.”

Meyjes is just completing extensive CGI post-production on his biopic of Spain’s most famous matador Manolete starring Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz.  New Line Cinema releases Meyjes’ Martian Child starring John Cusack in the US on 26 October.