Werner Herzog developing QUEEN OF THE DESERT to star Naomi Watts

Werner Herzog has a new drama in the works called Queen of the Desert and is is in negotiations with Naomi Watts to star.

This project has been in the works for a couple of years. Herzog has previously mentioned the film saying,

“I have written a screenplay now for a big epic, which certainly will not use 3D… We’re in the first phase, but it’s a big epic film set in the desert and I’ve also started another film in Texas, in a maximum security prison.”

The film centers on Gertrude Bell, a real-life British woman who was a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century. Despite being a commoner, Bell was highly influential in founding the modern states of Iraq and Jordan and installing their first rulers, King Abdullah and King Faisal.

This project does not currently have financing, but with names like Herzog and Watts attached that should be easy to acquire. Watts is currently filming The Impossible with Ewan McGregor about the 2004 tsunami. Once that is done, she'll immediately start on Clint Eastwood’s  J. Edgar. Reportedly, this is a project that Watts wants to do.

It sounds like a pretty epic movie. I think Watts is a good actress and I love the film's Herzog has directed. What are your thoughts on this news?