“True Blood” stud Alexander Skarsgard is attached to star in “The Elephant,” an oil-rig thriller from director Hans Petter Moland (“The Beautiful Country”), packaging agent Paul Schwartzman has confirmed to TheWrap.

Schedule permitting, Skarsgard is set to play a Norwegian roustabout who tangles with a redneck American driller. The two men bond while attempting to shut down a terrifying oil rig explosion.

No, it’s not about current events. The script, by Petter Skavlan, was inspired by Magnar Jonsgaard’s novel “Black Rain,” about Americans drilling for oil in the frigid and often lethal North Sea, where Jonsgaard worked on several oil platforms during the ’70s.

The film takes its title from a slang term used to describe an oil field that produces at least 500 million barrels.

Casting is currently under way for three American stars.

Studio Babelsberg will co-produce with Norway’s Monster Film and Northern Alliance Group, while The Little Film Company will handle sales. “The Elephant” is scheduled to begin production either in late autumn or early 2011.

Source: The Wrap