Yes, you read that right, Ewan McGregor is to play the love interest of Jim Carrey's character in I Love You Phillip Morris.

This is the dark comedy that looks at the real life events of Steven Russell, a family man imprisoned for his conman life, who fell in love with his cell mate and managed to escape from prison four times in the most ingenious ways.

The film based on a novel by Steve McVicker (Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk) which in turn is based on real life events.

Jim Carrey will be playing Steven Russell, a father and husband who is also a conman. He is put in prison for one of his crimes and while there he falls in love with his cellmate. However his cellmate is released and Russell decides to break out and head after him, something he allegedly did four times.

Now it's the way he broke out of prison that's the most interesting. He used his conman talents to fake his own death after months of faking that he was suffering from AIDS, and twice he escaped from prison to walk into a six figure job as a CEO of a large corporation.

According to the news from Variety, Ewan McGregor is set to play the man that Carrey's character falls in love with, Phillip Morris. It doesn't end well for Steven Russell in real life, gaining a one hundred and forty four year sentence, but the journey will be the comic part and I'm sure the ending and reality the dark part.

The film is being directed by the guys who wrote Bad Santa, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.

I think this is a cracking pairing and could really deliver something strong. I do hope that Carrey is going to concentrate less on comic performances and ore on his acting, and this might be one way to do it.