JohnMalkovich has revealed details of several new projects he is slated to work onduring the next year.

The actor producer-director discussed the projects whilegiving a masterclass at the Locarno film festival this week.

Chiefamongst these was the revelation that he may be joining the cast of RobertZemeckis' highly anticipated project Beowulf.

This couldsee Malkovich join Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson and RayWinstone who are already reportedly on the project.

Beowulfwill see Zemeckis' return to the motion-capture animation technology he used onlast year's The Polar Express, which grossed over $283m worldwide.

Based onthe epic poem, the film has a script by Roger Avary and novelist and comicbookwriter Neil Gaiman (whose MirrorMask is in competition at Locarno thisyear) that recounts the tale of the Scandinavian warrior who takes on alegendary monster, Grendel.

Beowulfwill be produced by Zemeckis' ImageMovers alongside Shangri-La Entertainmentand DreamWorks SKG and will release in 2007 through Sony Pictures in NorthAmerica.

Malkovich is also set to star in Erich Breuer's The Holy Beast, which will tell of a Jesuit heretic in theeighteenth century.

Commentingon his willingness to play in period and modern roles Malkovich said: "I neverreally worry about the era, epoch or genre a film is set in. I guess it's noeasier for me to relate to right now than 400 years ago."

Hisupcoming slate reflects this. Malkovich will soon be seen in Brian W Cook's ColourMe Kubrick, Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential and Laurence'sDunmore's The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp, which are all completed.Malkovich also produced the latter two. He is currently involved with BobMeyer's Drunkboat with John Goodman and Stefen Fangmeier's Eragon,alongside Jeremy Irons and Djimon Hounsou, based on the bestselling children'sadventure novel by Christopher Paolini, which are both in production.

On a lighter note he also revealed he is hoping to do "awhite trash version of Hamlet set between Texas and Louisiana."