Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty, is to make a movie about the Gulf war.

The film, entitled Jarhead, is based on the memoir of Anthony Swofford, a marine sniper in the 1991 conflict.

The movie has apparently raced into production exceptionally quickly, with Mendes having postponed two other projects, including a big screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeny Todd, to take the helm.

Mendes said he committed himself to the film after reading just a draft of the script, which he described as "equal parts black humour, honesty, rage, lyricism [and] profanity".

"This is new territory to me, but I hadn't spent two days in American suburbia when I directed American Beauty," Mendes told Variety. "I only knew the script had an unusual and original voice and it was a challenge I wanted to take on.

"With the exception of Three Kings, this is a war that has been overlooked, but which has a burning relevance to what is happening right now in the Middle East," Mendes added.