Stuart Townsend is set to direct The Battle in Seattle, a film he wrote and is also producing, as his first feature and it's already pulling together a surprisingly strong cast, never mind the announcement today.

From Production Weekly:

Michelle Rodriguez, Jennifer Carpenter, Channing Tatum and Tzi Ma have been added to the cast...The film stars Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Andre Benjamin and Martin Henderson.

That's a fair cast already, sure Theron and Townsend are going out together and her on the cast may have helped swing some of the other names, but still, it shows a lot of promise for this story. The film is a documentary style film which follows twelve characters caught up in the middle of the rioting during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle during November of 1999. Theron will play a character who loses her unborn baby during the riots.

A strong topic to choose, and with the description of the Theron character I doubt one that is going to put sympathy entirely with the protesters.