Matthew McConaughey and Gary Ross Team for Civil War Drama 'Free State of Jones'

This weekend you'll have a chance to see Matthew McConaughey head into deep space to save humanity in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (review here), and already he's lining up another project. With the American Film Market underway deals have been getting made left and right, and now McConaughey and Gary Ross (The Hunger Games) have come together for the true Civil War tale, Free State of Jones.

This is a project Ross has been developing for years, and with McConaughey on board it should have no problem with financing. Free State of Jones tells the true story of Newton Knight, a Confederate soldier and farmer during the Civil War who defected and led a rebellion against them. He and a group of like-minded individuals set out to form the Free State of Jones around Mississippi. Knight was a controversial figure seen as a traitor by some and noble by others. He conducted raids against the Confederacy during the war, and also was in a common law marriage with a slave at a time when it was both illegal and frowned upon socially.

A film loosely based on Knight's exploits was released in 1948, titled Tap Roots. [Deadline]