Jason Clarke (The Chicago Code, Texas Killing Fields) has become the first actor to sign on for the Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Project, which is set up at Sony Pictures.

Jason Clarke will play one of the elite soldiers assigned by the U.S. government to hunt down terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Actors such as Tom Hardy, Jennifer Ehle, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Rooney Mara, and Nina Arianda are in contention for other roles, although no offers have been made yet.

Kathryn Bigelow is directing the untitled project from a screenplay by Mark Boal, who wrote the screenplay for the director's Oscar-winning drama The Hurt Locker.

Production is scheduled to start sometime early next year, with an October 12, 2012 release date already set.