Eddie Izzard, a two-time Emmy winner for his HBO comedy special "Dress to Kill," will star in a pilot for the FX cable network, Daily Variety said Monday.

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Izzard will play the patriarch of an Irish family that moves to the U.S. and tries to con the community. The project -- described as a dark comedy -- is being written by Russian playwright Dmitry Lipkin ("Baton Rouge,""A Forest of Stones").

FX Entertainment President John Landgraf told Variety he had been looking for a family show that would be "sort of original enough, dark enough, funny enough and deep enough to fit with the types of shows we have on our air."

Izzard's screen credits include "All the Queen's Men,""The Cat's Meow" and "Velvet Goldmine." He was nominated for a Tony for "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg."