Christopher Eccleston will join Hilary Swank in Amelia, the Mira Nair-directed Amelia Earhart biopic for Avalon Pictures and Fox Searchlight.

According to Variety, Eccleston will play Earhart's navigator, Fred Noonan. Noonan flew with Earhart when her plane disappeared over the Pacific during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.

Eccleston joins Richard Gere, Ewan MacGregor and Virgina Madsen in the cast.

The film is shooting in Toronto.