Gerard Butler is already famous for playing an idealized, slightly silly version of a real-life hero from the very, very distant past, so why not go for something a little more realistic and modern-- but equally ass-kicking? According to Deadline Hollywood, Butler will play Sam Childers in Machine Gun Preacher, true story of a former drug dealer and biker who found religion and set up an orphanage to rescue 200 kids from the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

Marc Forster, of Quantum of Solace, would direct, based on Childers' memoir Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan. Apparently when producer Robbie Brenner and screenwriter Jason Keller tracked down Childers to ask for the rights, he chewed them out, which makes me love the guy from the get-go.

Even though the project sounds like a tailor-made studio Oscar bait project, it's going forward through independent financing. That might change with Butler on board-- after all, we love nothing more than seeing someone famous for his muscles actually try and, you know, act for a change.