Madonna ‘signs McGregor’ for Wallis Simpson film

Madonna has signed up Ewan McGregor to play Edward VIII in her new film about the life of Wallis Simpson, according to Total Film. The biopic W.E. starts filming in London this summer.

If the report is correct, McGregor is the latest addition to what is shaping up to be a strong cast for Madonna's second directorial effort - a far cry from her first film, which was panned for the acting abilities of its largely unknown cast.

Madonna has already signed up the Australian actress Abbie Cornish, widely praised for her performance as John Keats's lover in Jane Campion's Bright Star. Cornish will play a modern-day woman who is obsessed with Simpson's story.

For the role of Simpson herself, Madonna is in talks with Vera Farmiga (above), the Oscar-nominated star of Up in the Air.

Last week Farmiga confirmed that Madonna had approached her about the role, and admitted that she was "not familiar" with the singer-turned-director's work.

"I told her this flat-out," Farmiga told E! News. "She sent a couple of films and I still haven't seen them. But... I don't really go by that. I go by other things. I go by scripts. I go with what I think I can do with a character and if I feel a kinetic energy with someone and I feel we can uplift and challenge each other."

Madonna's 2008 directorial debut Filth and Wisdom - about a Ukrainian immigrant who finances his dreams of rock glory by moonlighting as a cross-dressing dominatrix - received mixed reviews. Aside from Richard E Grant, the cast comprised mostly unknown or first-time actors including Ukrainian-born punk rock singer Eugene Hutz in the lead role.

Jonathan Romney of Screen International called the film "a cheap and cheerful comedy" but added that "Madonna simply cannot direct actors".

However Farmiga insists that she isn't worried that Madonna's last film flopped.  "I certainly have things I wouldn't want people to see." ·