Australian star Peta Wilson (“La Femme Nikita”) has signed on to play the lead female role in “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” for 20th Century Fox.
Described as a Victorian-era “X-Men,” “League” is based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore. Instead of mutant superheroes, it gathers together famous literary characters, including Mina Harker (“Dracula”), Captain Nemo (“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”), Dr. Henry Jekyll, Dr. Hawley Griffin (“The Invisible Man”), Dorian Gray and their American correspondent, police detective Thomas Sawyer.
The eclectic team is assembled by Queen Victoria to stop an evil madman from taking over the world by pitting the nations against each other.
Wilson will play Mina Harker, a British scientist who used to work with her husband to rid the world of Count Dracula. Sean Connery will star as team leader Alan Quatermain, British novelist Henry Rider Haggard’s adventurer created in the 1880s.
Other cast members confirmed are Shane West, Stuart Townsend and Jason Flemyng. Steve Norrington (“Blade”) will direct the $80 million production that’s set to shoot this summer in the Czech Republic and Morocco.
