Ang Lee directing FX drama pilot 'Tyrant' from 'Homeland' producers

In a major coup for FX, the network has landed two-time Oscar winning director Ang Lee to direct new drama pilot "Tyrant" from "Homeland" producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff.

Raff wrote the script about an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Gordon developed the series with Craig Wright ("Six Feet Under"), who would serve as showrunner if FX gives the project a series order, as expected.

Production is tentatively scheduled for the summer, which would make the pilot Lee's follow-up to his Oscar winning work on "Life of Pi."

"Ang Lee has demonstrated time and again an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition," FX president John Landgraf said in a statement.

Lee previously won a Best Director Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain" and was nominated for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which also won Best Foreign Language Film. His other credits include "The Ice Storm," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Hulk."

"Tyrant" will be Lee's first TV project.