Ewan McGregor joins Gilliam's 'Don Quixote'

Ewan McGregor has signed up to star in Terry Gilliam's long-delayed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

McGregor, taking over the role from Johnny Depp, will play an ad exec who travels back in time to 17th century Spain for an adventure with Don Quixote. Robert Duvall is on board to play Quixote, replacing Jean Rochefort who had the part in the aborted 2000 attempt.

Gilliam told Empire: "Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question - and he can ride a horse! And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost. There's a lot of colours to Ewan that he's not been showing recently and it's time for him to show them again.

"He's got a great sense of humour and he's a wonderful actor. He's wonderfully boyish and can be charming - when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb!"

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is currently slated to begin production this September with a budget of $20 million.