Philip Noyce to Direct Ewan McGregor in 'American Pastoral'; First Look at Al Pacino in 'The Humbling'

In the works for more than a decade, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel American Pastoral has seen Fisher Stevens attached as a director at one point, and briefly had Jennifer Connelly and husband Paul Bettany involved. But like other recent Roth adaptations, Elegy and The Human Stain, nailing down the right approach to the Pulitzer Prize-winning material has proven difficult, but Philip Noyce (Salt) has apparently figured it out.

According to Comingsoon and first reported some time ago by IF.com.au, Noyce will direct American Pastoral beginning early next year. Not only that, he's found a star in Ewan McGregor, who will play successful Jewish-American businessman Seymour "Swede" Levov, who sees his happy upper-middle class existence ruined by the turmoil of the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson. John Romero (The Lincoln Lawyer) will write the screenplay.

And another of Philip Roth's novels is headed to the screen soon as Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig are starring in The Humbling, with the first image arriving via Chop Shop. This is another film that was kicking around for a lot of years before Pacino and director Barry Levinson (of HBO's You Don't Know Jack) decided to reteam on the story of a famed theater actor who begins having a sexual affair with a lesbian woman half his age. No word on a release date yet but the supporting cast is solid with Dianne Wiest, Mandy Patinkin, and Charles Grodin co-starring, and a script by The Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry.