Luke Wilson to headline '12 Mighty Orphans'

Luke Wilson is set to star in director Ty Roberts' historical drama "12 Mighty Orphans".

The movie is an adaptation of Jim Dent's novel of the same name which tells the true life story of a group of Fort Worth orphans who form a football team and vie for the state championship during the Great Depression.

Wilson, 47, will essay the role of the team's coach, Rusty Russell, a World War I veteran who arrives with a troubled past, much of which is due to being abandoned in an orphanage when he was a child.

"Looking for redemption by trying to turn around the fortune of other orphans, he accepts a job as the head football coach to a Texas orphanage/high school. Through dedication, he redirects his players' feelings of loss and humiliation into a dominant team that played in the Texas state championship," the official plotline of the film read.

Roberts has penned the script in collaboration with Lane Garrison, reported Deadline.

The project will be produced by Mike De Luca, Angelique De Luca and Brinton Bryan.

George Young Jr, Rhett Bennett, Greg McCabe and J Todd Harris will serve as executive producers.