Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy will be brought to the big screen by Toronto-based director Rob Heydon, making his feature directorial debut after work in commercials and music videos.

The budget will be $8.4m (£4.2m). The cast assembled includes Erica Durance, Billy Boyd and Richard E Grant.

Heydon adapted the script with the Scottish author's input.

Heydon will also produce with Allan Levine and Joni Cuquet. The production companies are Canada-based Ecstasy Film and UK-based Proteus Entertainment. Negotiations are ongoing with potential sales agents.

The shoot starts June 11 in Scotland, shooting for 38 days during seven weeks.

Welsh's 1996 bestselling collection of short novellas, titled Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance, follows misfits on darkly comic tales of love and mis-spent lives.

Welsh said in a statement: 'I've met Rob Heydon and he's a brilliant young producer/director with a good head on his shoulders and knows what he is doing. That's quite rare in the film business.'

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