Andy Serkis, Sir Ben Kingsley and Joel David Smallbone have joined the cast of Young Washington.

The trio have joined the presidential origin story that is being developed by Wonder Project and Angel Studios.

The movie - which is being directed by Wonder Project's Jon Erwin - stars the previously announced William Franklyn-Miller as a young George Washington and chronicles the beginnings of the first American president.

After he makes a tremendous mistake that triggers the French and Indian War, the ambitious 22-year-old Washington must face up to his failures and find the courage to become a leader who will forge a nation.

Kingsley will play Robert Dinwiddie, the strong-willed Virginia Governor who entrusts Washington with his first command, with Serkis starring as General Edward Braddock - an overconfident British officer who gives the defeated Washington another shot at military glory.

Smallbone portrays William Fairfax, a cunning friend and romantic rival to Washington who moves effortlessly into the world of the British upper class to which the future president aspires.

The film has been written by Erwin, Tom Provost and Diederik Hoogstraten and is due to enter production later this summer.

In an unusual move, Angel Studios have made tickets available last month on its own platform - even though the movie is not being released for another year and not a single scene has been shot yet.

Serkis is best known for his role as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy but confessed previously that starring in the epic fantasy franchise didn't hold much appeal to him at first.

He told a Fan Expo San Francisco panel last year: "When I was first approached to play the role, it was explained to me by my agent when I first spoke to them on the phone about it.

"They said, 'Look, they're making this little film down in New Zealand called Lord of the Rings, and they want to see you for a voice for a digital character.'

"And I was like, 'What? There must be a dozen good roles in that movie.'

"Can you not get me up for something decent?' And they said, 'Well, it is Gollum.' And I said, 'That's a decent role. Yeah, okay, alright, I'm listening.' "

Serkis thought that he would just be voicing Gollum until director Sir Peter Jackson introduced him to motion capture technology.

The 61-year-old actor said: "But originally, it was explained to me that it was just going to be the voice. And then when I met Peter Jackson and auditioned, he explained that they were just on the verge of trying out this new technology called motion capture, and that he wanted an actor to be on set to act with the other actors. Because up to that point, many CG characters were only represented by a tennis ball on a stick, and the actors had to pretend that they were having a relationship with it.

"Gollum, as many people know, drives a lot of the scenes and drives the wedges between Frodo and Sam, and it's all about the interaction. He wanted an actor to play that character.

"Motion capture aside, I just approached it like any other role, getting into the psychology and the physicality and then the voice."