Lily James is set to star in Young Woman and the Sea, based on the book by Glenn Stout about Trudy Ederle, according to Deadline. The book, which debuted in 2009, is described as follows:
In 1926, before skirt lengths inched above the knee and before anyone was ready to accept that a woman could test herself physically, a plucky American teenager named Trudy Ederle captured the imagination of the world when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel. It was, and still is, a feat more incredible and uncommon than scaling Mount Everest. Upon her return to the United States, “Trudy of America” became the most famous woman in the world. And just as quickly, she disappeared from the public eye.
Set against the backdrop of the roaring 1920s, Young Woman and the Sea is the dramatic and inspiring story of Ederle’s pursuit of a goal no one believed possible, and the price she paid. The moment Trudy set foot on land, triumphant, she had shattered centuries of stereotypes and opened doors for generations of women to come. A truly magnetic and often misunderstood character whose story is largely forgotten, Trudy Ederle comes alive in these pages through Glenn Stout’s exhaustive new research.
The project has been set up at Paramount Pictures by producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales writer Jeff Nathanson will adapt the book. Nathanson will also executive produce.
Lily James’ credits include “Downton Abbey” and Cinderella. Her upcoming projects include “War and Peace,” The Kaiser’s Last Kiss, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Baby Driver.
