Anne Hathaway Locked On To THE LIFEBOAT

THR is reporting that Les Miserables actress Anne Hathaway will produce and star in The Lifeboat, an adaptation of the historical novel by Charlotte Rogan.

William Broyles Jr., the writer behind Apollo 13, Jarhead and Flags of Our Fathers is onboard to pen the script, with Working Title Films/Focus Features set to finance and produce alongside Hathaway.

Rogan’s debut novel is a page-turning story of the young newlywed and a widow Grace Winter, who stands trial for murder in 1914, and who survives the sinking of the transatlantic ship Empress thanks to a lifeboat in which the survivors soon start getting rid of people for fear of overloading the boat.

The Lifeboat is yet to find a director, but prestige projects like this attracts some top talent.

Hathaway will next appear in the musical drama Song One, starring alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and will next shooting Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi film Interstellar in Calgary, Alberta from August 6th, 2013.

Here’s a book synopsis from Amazon:

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she’d found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

THE LIFEBOAT is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.