Ridley Scott preps Gertrude Bell biopic

Hey it's nice to get a Ridley Scott story that isn't riddled with Prometheus speculation. I've been enjoying the nice break from all that. Deadline reports the veteran director is next looking to helm a biopic based on the life of Gertrude Bell, the British explorer, writer, and archaeologist most famous for her role in shaping Brit oil policy in the Middle East around the time of WWI.  She earned a good deal of controversy for her stance against the women's suffrage movement, and later on for advocating Arab self-rule.

Scott would also be producing along with Giannina Facio, and has already brought in Jeffrey Caine to pen the script. Caine wrote what I think is the best political thriller of the last decade, 2005's The Constant Gardener.

For whatever reason, my mind instantly turned to Hilary Swank for the role, proably because she's so used to playing fierce, complicated female figures. But this is probably something that's going to go to someone unexpected. Noomi Rapace, maybe? Just throwing it out there.