Beacon Pictures has set Josh Lucas to star and Kip Williams ("Door in the Floor") to direct an untitled thriller inspired by the Bernard-Henri Levy book "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" reports Variety

In the book, the French author-philosopher described his daring journey into Pakistan to investigate the kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal correspondent. Levy is convinced Pearl may have uncovered complicity between the Pakistani secret service and Al Qaeda.

Scripted by New York Times Magazine foreign correspondent Peter Landesman, the film has fictionalized the Pearl character. Levy, too, has been changed into an American TV newsman who sheds his media celebrity trappings to find answers in a terrorist hotbed.

Production will begin this fall, with scouting under way in Morocco, Dubai, India, Libya and Tunisia. The project was set up with Ed Zwick directing, but he's currently in Africa filming "Blood Diamond" and the company wanted to get a timely film into production.