Rea joins cast for sci-fi epic

Irish actor Stephen Rea is keeping extra busy these days.

The star of such big-screen hits as The Crying Game has just signed to join the cast of director James McTeigue's epic sci-fi film V For Vendetta, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Alan Moore.

The film will be produced and directed by The Matrix team of Larry and Andy Wachowski and Joel Silver and Rea will co-star with James Purefoy and Natalie Portman in the tale of a young woman rescued from a deadly situation by a masked vigilante.

Coming up soon for Rea are Neil Jordan's Belfast-shot Breakfast on Pluto, Tara Road for Gilles MacKinnon and Vincent Wards The River Queen.