He failed to set the screen alight in the Brighton-set gangster flick Circus, and his presence didn't save Mystery Men and The Avengers from flopdom, but Eddie Izzard must be doing something right.

The comedian is to take the lead role in a new Lions Gate films production about Charlie Chaplin, called The Cat's Meow, with Peter Bogdanovich directing.

This will be Bogdanovich's first cinema project since 1993's The Thing Called Love, the last film completed by the late River Phoenix. The director had been one of Hollywood's most successful players in the 70s, with films such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon bringing widespread acclaim. But his personal life became mired in scandal, his golden touch failed him, and he was declared bankrupt in the 80s.

The 20s-set story will centre on a lavish birthday party on media tycoon William Randolph Hearst's yacht, where Chaplin met Hearst's young mistress Marion Davies (to be played by up-and-coming actress Kirsten Dunst), who later became the actor's lover. Filming on the £25m production is due to begin next month, in Germany and Greece.

The lead role is a huge step forward for Izzard's film career. An associate told PA news: "Eddie isn't leaving the world of comedy altogether but he loves working in the movie business. He sees this as his biggest part yet. He is completely over the moon."

The Chaplin project is the second film about the immortal comic in a decade, after Richard Attenborough's weighty Chaplin in 1992. On that occasion the central role was taken by Robert Downey Jr, who scooped an Oscar nomination before sliding into a vortex of drug addiction, rehab and jail. Izzard, no doubt, will be hoping to avoid a similar fate.

• More info on Izzard fan site Cake or Death.