Aishwarya Rai has joined thecast of Dino De Laurentiis' The Last Legion, which begins filming inTunisia on August 5. The Bollywood star joins previously confirmed leads ColinFirth and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Directed by Doug Lefler, TheLast Legion is a Dino De Laurentiis presentation produced by Martha DeLaurentiis and Raffaella De Laurentiis. It is also being produced with QuintaCommunications' Tarak Ben Ammar and British co-producers Chris Curling and PhilRobertson of Zephyr Films.

The production will movefrom Tunisia to Slovakia in September. Filming is scheduled to wrap at the endof October.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein'sprovisionally titled The Weinstein Company has acquired North Americandistribution rights to The Last Legion.

All other territories arebeing handled by producers consultant Pamela Pickering, at Dino De LaurentiisProductions in Los Angeles.

The Last Legion is based on Valerio Massimo Manfredi's 2003 novel ofthe same name. The film is set against the fall of the Roman Empire in 470ADand its last emperor, 12-year-old Romulus Augustus.

Imprisoned by rebels on theisland-fortress of Capri, Romulus, aided by his teacher Ambrosinus (Sir BenKingsley) and legionnaire Aurelius (Colin Firth), escapes. Accompanied byByzantine warrior Mira (Aishwarya Rai), the group sets out on a dangerous trekfor Britannia in search of the Last Legion in their bid to make one final standfor Rome.

Rounding off the cast are15-year old Thomas Sangster (Love Actually, Nanny McPhee) who has signedto play the young Romulus Augustus; Peter Mullan, John Hannah and veteranScottish actor James Cosmo.