Michael Fassbender has been cast in Brendan Gleeson’s upcoming directorial debut ‘At-Swim-Two-Birds,’ Screen Daily is reporting. There’s no word yet who the ‘X-Men: First Class’ actor will be playing, but he joins already announced actors Gabriel Byrne, Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and Gleeson’s son, Domhnall.

‘At-Swim-Two-Birds,’ which is based on Flann O’Brien’s acclaimed 1939 novel of the same name, is set to begin filming in Spring 2012. Besides directing, Gleeson will also appear as the uncle in the film adaptation. Like the book, the movie will follow a teenage student who infuses his creative writing with people from his own life. His characters eventually rebel and conspire to kill him.

The film is a passion project for Gleeson, who acquired the rights in 2004. He has seriously been working on ‘At-Swim-Two-Birds’ since 2007, and was recently able to secure financing from Alan Moloney’s Parallel Films, Luxembourg producer Jani Thiltes and the Film Fund Luxembourg.

The news of Fassbender’s casting in ‘At-Swim-Two-Birds’ comes after Gleeson appeared in John Michael McDonagh’s comedy-thriller ‘The Guard.’ After the film premiered in Ireland on July 6, 2011, it began receiving acclaim. Gleeson said “You could really feel the buzz. It’s gone down very well. And it looks like it’s going to have traction.”

Written by: Karen Benardello

Michael Fassbender