Martin Freeman is signed up to play Rembrandt alongside Matthew Modine, Sam Neill and Minnie Driver in a controversial look at the painters life called Nightwatching.

The Peter Greenaway film had been courting Philip Seymour Hoffman to take the lead role, unfortunately he didn't want to do another biographical film so soon after Capote, so Freeman was chosen. Quite a leap indeed, but an interesting choice. It'll certainly be a great role for Freeman to develop his serious side after The Office and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

From Reuters:

"Nightwatching" starts shooting in August in Poland, where Rembrandt's house has been re-created. From there, the $8 million production will move to Wales and the Netherlands...

Greenaway believes that the painting of The Nightwatch shows a murder being committed and that within the painting are all the elements required to decipher who was killed and by whom. As part of the celebrations for Rembrandt's life, Greenaway will also create an installation using the painting to show his detective work on the murder.

Strange to hear that this is the founding basis for the film about his life, but then Greenaway has always been an unorthadox director. It'll be great to see Freeman tackle a big role like this though.