'Expendables 2' director signs on for film about J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis

A film about authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis is moving ahead, with Simon West, director of The Expendables 2, signing on to direct.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Tolkien & Lewis will be a drama depicting the long friendship between Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis.

The studio says the film will be "a drama fantasy set in war torn Britain in 1941 revealing the faith, friendship, and rivalry between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis."

The film will likely depict how J.R.R. Tolkien, a Catholic, converted his friend C.S. Lewis to the religious life. Lewis himself was an atheist before this, and his newfound Christianity influenced much of his writing.

The film will have a budget of $18 million and be released by Attractive Films, a UK production company, according to Entertainment Weekly. Simon West has previously directed films such as The Expendables 2, Con Air, and recently the Nicolas Cage project Stolen.

Tolkien & Lewis is one of two upcoming biopics about Tolkien. Fox Searchlight's Tolkien will be a more straightforward biopic about the author's life, depicting his time in World War I and his time as a professor, according to Slashfilm. David Gleeson has signed on to direct.

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