Coming off of his Academy Award win for Life of Pi, celebrated director Ang Lee will make his television directorial debut with FX, directing the pilot episode for the upcoming drama "Tyrant," from Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff ("Homeland"), and Emmy-nominated writer/producer Craig Wright ("Six Feet Under," "Lost"). The announcement was made today by John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks.

"Tyrant" will be Lee's first project following Life of Pi.

"Tyrant" tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The series was created by Raff and developed by Gordon and Wright. Raff wrote the pilot script, which comes from Teakwood Lane, the company Gordon has set up at 20th Century Fox Television. "Tyrant" is produced by Fox 21 and FX Productions.

"Ang Lee has demonstrated time and again an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition," said Landgraf. "No one could be a more perfect film maker to bring Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, and Craig Wright's 'Tyrant' to indelible life."

Gordon, Raff and Wright are executive producers in association with Keshet Broadcasting. Lee is an Executive Producer. If "Tyrant" receives a series order, Wright will serve as showrunner.

"The fact that the brilliant Ang Lee has signed on to direct his first project for television speaks to the extraordinary nature of 'Tyrant,'" commented Bert Salke, President of Fox 21, which will produce the show. "Ang Lee, Gideon Raff, Craig Wright and Howard Gordon are master storytellers at the height of their powers, and the material is incredible. We can't wait to get started."

Production on "Tyrant" is tentatively slated to begin this summer.

(Photo Credit: Daniel Deme/WENN.com)