Ulrich Thomsen, who hasstarred in Festen,Kingdom Of Heaven, and The World Is Not Enough, has signed on to star in Hungarian director Janos Szasz's Opium.

Szasz, who previously directed Woyzeck and The Witman Boys, is currently filming onlocation in Komarom, northern Hungary, at the Monostorifortress, which once served as a detention camp for Jews during World War II.

The story is based in parton the diaries of Geza Csath,a writer and psychiatrist who was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Thomsen's character,a doctor who is addicted to opium, falls in love with a mad patient, played byNorwegian actress Kirsti Stubo.

The therapy Stubo's character undergoes looks to modern eyes liketorture, and the film is populated with bizarre gadgets which special artdesigner Geza Szollossybased on period devices.

Opium isproduced by H2O Motion Pictures and Hunnia FilmStudio in association with EuroArts. Andras Hamori and Pal Sandor are producing.Tibor Krsko and Bernd Hellthaler areserving as executive producers and Tracy Brimm andKate Myers of the UK's Forward Films are co-producers.

Opium will be distributed inEnglish- and Hungarian-language versions. Hamori toldScreenDaily.com that he intends totake teasers to Cannes. H2O will handle world sales.