James Marsters has signed to star in a film adaptation of the West End play Italian Heat.

United Press International (UPI) says that Marsters will join Sean Bean and veteran actor Derek Jacobi for the film, set in fascist Italy.

The drama unfolds when two male refugees discover a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, and decide to seduce them. Marsters will play the refugee who seduces the husband, a prospect he at first balked at.

"I was all excited about it and I went to my manager and said, 'Do I have to kiss a guy?' And he's like, 'Oh, yeah.' And I was like, 'Argggh!'," Marsters told UPI.

"And then I read the script and there was so much more than kissing that I froze up for a while. [Eventually] I started making my own personal connection to it, and so I feel like I can play that role.

"I'm less terrified than I was two months ago. Two months ago, I probably wouldn't have wanted to talk about it, but you don't refuse a film like that. It's a really great script and I'm looking forward to it."

Marsters also confirmed that he would be joining the cast of Angel, but he said that talk about Spike becoming human was not true.