Aishwarya Rai begins work on her first major Hollywood project this August, silencing cynics who thought the beauty was making up stories about an international career.

"Last Legion", an action-adventure film featuring Ben Kingsley of "Gandhi" fame and Colin Firth and set during the fall of the Roman empire, has Aishwarya as the female lead. The movie will be shot in Tunisia, Italy and Slovakia.

After Paul Berges' "Mistress Of Spices" and Jagmohan Mundhra's "Provoked" where she plays Indian characters, "Last Legion" will see her playing a character not binding her to her nationality.

Ash isn't allowed to speak about the costume drama, but it's reliably learnt that the movie has a $70 million budget.

Ash said: "There never was any doubt in my mind about which way my career abroad would go. But the doubters back home seemed to feel I was imagining the offers when in fact they were coming in constantly.

"Yes, I've been offered several international projects, including the latest Will Smith comedy 'Hitch' which I couldn't do because of date problems. When it came to choosing between a film in Bollywood and an international project, I was very clear that I'd always opt for the former."

"Last Legion" is being produced by the company of the late Dino de Laurentiis that produced classics like "War and Peace", "Silence Of The Lambs" and "Diabolik".

So positive was the buzz about the film at the Cannes Film Festival last month that Harvey Weinstein, the ex-chief of Miramax, immediately bought the North American distribution rights for "Last Legion".

Doug Lefler, who directed episodes on the TV series "Hercules" and served as first assistant director on "Spiderman", will make his debut as a feature film director with "Last Legion".