Joe Wright to have an 'Indian Summer'

Joe Wright, the director of the Oscar nominated 'Atonment' and the superb looking 'The Soloist', has just inked a deal to direct an adaption of Alex von Tunzelmann novel 'Indian Summer' according to Variety.

The project is based on the book about the last days of Britain's colonial rule in India and the symbolic end of Blighty's status as a world superpower.

William Nicholson ("Gladiator") is penning the screenplay. Working Title co-toppers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan will produce alongside Hilary Bevan Jones ("The Boat That Rocked").

Lensing is set to begin early next year on location in India. No cast has been set.

Pic will follow the fateful events as Britain's Lord Mountbatten, with glamorous wife Edwina in tow, is sent to oversee the handover of power in the summer of 1947 to Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.

"After making 'The Soloist' in L.A., I was looking for something that was primarily about the British experience," Wright told Daily Variety.

I liked 'Atonement' and I have really been impressed from what I have seen of 'The Soloist'. Wright has a painters eye visually and this material really should allow him a canvas to stretch both that and his already excellent dramatic touch as a film maker.