According to Variety, Warner Bros. has attached Ed Zwick to direct period epic The Lions of Al-Rassan, an adaptation of a Guy Gavriel Kay novel about the collision of religions in Spain during the Middle Ages that melds fact and fantasy.

Vera Blasi (Woman On Top) will write the script.

The book is a historical fantasy set at the beginning of the Christian re-conquest of Moorish Spain. A triangle forms between two warrior princes and a female doctor in the fictional locale of Al-Rassan. There are allusions to the Crusades-era religious clashes between Jewish, Catholic and Muslim factions.

But the author veils the faiths and introduces magical elements into the historical framework.

After sticking to a historical track on The Last Samurai, Zwick found Kay's literary device irresistible.

"He has done something remarkable in imagining a very compelling world, which has some basis in history, and yet departs in a way that adds a kind of magical realism," Zwick said. "That is a blend I've never seen before and feels like a different way to approach an epic story."

Zwick said he will likely get back behind the camera on a project this year, while The Lions of Al-Rassan is being written.