Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey will star in director Hugh Hudson's big screen adaptation of George Orwell's Catalonia.

According to Variety, Hudson (I Dreamed of Africa, Chariots of Fire) will direct from a script by Bob Ellis.

Orwell's book revolves around the real-life story of how he and his wife Eileen traveled to Barcelona to fight Stalinism. There, Orwell joined the Anarchist brigade and fought in the Spanish Civil War. The film will highlight the relationship between Orwell and Georges Kopp, the charismatic commander of the brigade.

Hudson is scheduled to begin lensing in the first half of 2010 in England, Spain and then Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Uruguay.