Actor Ewan McGregor is to direct his first movie, an adaptation of Philip Roth's lauded novel American Pastoral.

He said he has wanted to direct a movie for years, and has had to wait to find a story that he felt obliged to tell on the screen.

McGregor will also star in the film, about the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning, with a scrip written by John Romano.

Screen Daily magazine has reported that American Pastoral will start filming in September in Philadelphia.

It follows the story of apparently successful businessman Seymour Irving Levov during the Vietnam War era, whose daughter becomes a radical anti-war protestor.

The happy and seemingly conventional life of 'The Swede', as he is known, becomes completely derailed by personal and public tragedies, as narrated by one of Roth's most famous characters, Nathan Zuckerman.

Tom Rosenberg of Lakeshore Entertainment, which is producing the film, said: "Ewan's talent goes far beyond his on-screen work and we're excited to be working with a director who is as passionate as we are about telling the story of American Pastoral.

McGregor, 43, from Crieff, said: "It's a great privilege to be working with Lakeshore on Phillip Roth's astounding novel American Pastoral.

"I've wanted to direct for years and wanted to wait until I found a story that I 'had' to tell and in this script I knew I had found that story.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of being on both sides of the camera especially knowing I'll be working with Jennifer and Dakota."

The novel was published published in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.