Ben Kingsley to portray Salvador Dali in new biopic

Ben Kingsley is set to portray surrealist artist Salvador Dali in the upcoming biopic Dali Land.

The Gandhi actor will play the Spanish painter alongside Oscar nominee Lesley Manville, who has been cast as his domineering wife and muse Gala, Fear the Walking Dead star Frank Dillane as a young gallery assistant named James, and Tim Roth as Dali's right-hand man Captain Moore.

According to Deadline, Dali Land will be set in New York and Spain in 1973 and chart the unusual marriage between Dali and Gala. It will be told through the eyes of James, who helps the artist prepare for a big show and "falls down a rabbit hole of glittering parties, searing personal battles and an art world awash with money and intrigue."

The biopic, which is scheduled to begin production in Spain and Canada in November and December 2018, will be directed by Mary Harron, best known for American Psycho, and written by Harron and John C. Walsh.

American Psycho producer Edward R. Pressman from Pressman Film, who helped develop the project, said, "I'm proud to be working with the visionary Mary Harron again on Dali Land. I believe Mary's sense of cosmic irony is a perfect match for a story about the flamboyant, contradictory and larger than life Salvador Dali.

"I love the team we've assembled and can't wait to see Sir Ben Kingsley and Lesley Manville embody the iconic partnership of Dali and Gala."

Representatives for Bankside Films will launch sales on the project at the Cannes Film Festival, which opens on 8 May (18). The company's director Stephen Kelliher told the website that the combination of the cast, Harron and a compelling look into Dali's private life "will undoubtedly captivate and excite audiences around the world."

Dali died of heart failure in 1989 at the age of 84. Gala died in 1982, aged 87.