Following his role as Bane in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, British actor Tom Hardy is becoming more in demand to headline movies, and The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Hardy will play a British special forces soldier who returns from fighting in the Middle East suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in Solar Pictures' drama Samarkand.

Written by brothers Greg and Olly Williams, who developed the movie with Hardy and Solar Pictures' Bobby Paunescu, the film will be Greg William's feature debut, having previously directed the acclaimed short film Sergeant Slaughter – My Big Brother, which also starred Hardy.

"Samarkand" is the second largest city in Uzbekistan and one of the oldest cities in the world, so from the film's title, we're going to assume that the Middle Eastern portion of the film takes place there.

(Photo source: WENN.com)