Jake Gyllenhaal to star in The Division

Jake Gyllenhaal will star in Ubisoft's movie 'The Division'.

The 35-year-old actor, who made his breakthrough performance in 'October Sky', is set to play the lead in a film adaptation of Tom Clancy's shooter video game.

According to Variety, Gyllenhaal is also producing the "big-budget" film - which is based on the third-person shooter game set in dystopian New York City in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic.

It is not yet known how close the script will be to the original game as Red Storm Entertainment is still on the lookout for a writer to pen the adaptation, which is being developed and published by Ubisoft.

However, players of the game become an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division and are tasked with rebuilding the Divisions operations in Manhattan, investigating the nature of the outbreak and tackling criminal activity in its wake.

It's understood the French video game developer is on the lookout for another big name to star in the movie.

The movie adaption was set in motion after the video game broke records selling $330 million in sales in just five days

Gyllenhaal's casting for 'The Division' follows on from his several prestige projects such as 'Nightcrawler', 'Southpaw' and the upcoming Tom Ford's 'Nocturnal Animals' in which he will star opposite Amy Adams when it hits the big screen on November 18, 2016.

Gyllenhaal is also set to produce Bong Joon Ho's 'Okja' and Daniel Espinosa's 'Life' later this year through his production company Nine Stories.