The Lion’s Share, a feature film being produced by the team behind Citizen Gangster, has landed Jim Sturgess (Upside Down, Cloud Atlas, 21) and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Gladiator) to play the lead roles.

The Lion’s Share is to be directed by Nathan Morlando, who secured the Best Canadian First Feature Film for Citizen Gangster at TIFF in 2011.

Co-written by Morlando and his Euclid 431 Pictures partner and producer Allison Black, The Lion’s Share is produced by Black alongside producer Genevieve Hofmeyr of Moonlighting Films (Safe House, Invictus). Euclid has offices in Toronto and Los Angeles.

The Lion’s Share is the story of journalist who, when desperate for a breakout story, travels to Somalia to secure an interview with an internationally-known pirate. Principal photography is set to begin in September in South Africa and Kenya.

Also attached to the project are casting directors David Rubin and Richard Hicks (Zero Dark Thirty, Lars and the Real Girl, and The English Patient), DOP Steve Cosens (Citizen Gangster, The Tracey Fragments), editor Richard Comeau (War Witch) and composer Max Richter (Wadjda, Waltz With Bashir, Shutter Island).