As the March start of shooting date for Bryan Singer’s epic fantasy Jack the Giant Killer strides towards the director like an angry beast, he’s starting to fill out more of the cast, with Ewan McGregor entering negotiations to play a role.

In this new take on Jack and the Beanstalk, we’re introduced to a fairytale land where humans and giants have co-existed peacefully for years. But then the human princess is kidnapped by one of the giants and a farm lad, Jack (Nicholas Hoult), leads the mission to rescue her. Which, somewhat naturally, causes ructions between mankind and their giant neighbours.

Once he locks in his deal, McGregor will play the commander of the human King’s elite guard, a man who knows a lot about fighting giants. Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy and John Kassier joined up earlier this month, with Tucci as the villainous adviser to the king and Nighy and Kassier playing the two-headed leader of the giants.

According to the Heat Vision blog, Singer is also busy searching for an actress to play the princess, with Australian Adelaide Kane and Alice in Wonderland’s Eleanor Tomlinson said to be on the list as possible heroines.