Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale, Monster's Ball, The Four Feathers) will play Casanova, to be directed by Lasse Halstrom (The Cider House Rules, The Shipping News).

People magazine says the film about the legendary lover will be shot in Venice this August.

Ledger will be seen next in Ned Kelly, as an Australian gunslinger. The film opens on March 26 in the US.

The Australian actor and Oscar nominee Naomi Watts' squeeze will also appear in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays a cowboy lover along with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Watts was nominated for her performance in 21 Grams, but she lost out to Monster's Charlize Theron.

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