Michael Douglas (File Photo)

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Actor Michael Douglas is to star in "Tragic Indifference," a courtroom drama based on a landmark liability case against Ford Company, according to media reports Wednesday.

2929 Prods. will finance the film and produce with Douglas' Furthur Films.

Douglas will play Tab Turner, the attorney who took Ford to court on behalf of a single mother Donna Bailey from Texas, whose Ford Explorer flipped in 2000. Bailey was paralyzed and nearly died after the accident. Turner won a multi-million dollar settlement for Bailey in the case, reputed to be the biggest product liability case in U.S. history. The paralyzed woman also got an apology from the company.

The trial exposed the automaker's indifference to flaws in its SUVs.

"This gives me a chance to play a different kind of character," Douglas said. "I played a lawyer once, in 'Fatal Attraction,' and there wasn't much about the law in that picture."

Stephen Gerard will write the script based on Adam Penenberg's 2003 book of the same name, which 2929 has optioned.

The project was brought to Furthur by producers Jon Furay and Manuel Wally, who'll co-produce with Couper Samuelson. Douglas next appears in "King of California."

(Agencies)