Farrell lined up for Weir's 'Way Back'

Rex Features

Colin Farrell is in final negotiations to join Peter Weir's forthcoming film The Way Back, reports Variety.

The 32-year old actor has been lined up to star alongside Ed Harris, 21's Jim Sturgess and Atonement actress Saoirse Ronan.

Based on the memoirs of Slavomir Rawicz, the story follows a group of soldiers who plot their escape from a Siberian gulag in 1942 following the German-Soviet invasion of Poland.

Farrell will reportedly play a Russian, Harris an American and Sturgess a Polish inmate. 14-year-old Ronan will play a young Russian on the run who encounters the fugitives.

The film, scripted by Master And Commander director Weir, is scheduled to begin filming in Bulgaria in March.