EFM: StudioCanal has injected what is sure to become one of the hottest titles at the market, setting the Oscar winner to play amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst in James Marsh’s follow-up to Academy Award nominee The Theory Of Everything.

The studio is co-financing with BBC Films the true story of Crowhurst’s attempt to win the first round the World Yacht Race in 1968, based on a screenplay by Scott Z Burns.

Principal photography is set to begin this spring. StudioCanal will distribute in its territories and handle sales for the rest of the world.

Producing the StudioCanal, Blueprint Pictures and BBC Films project are Pete Czernin, Graham Broadbent and Burns with Nicolas Mauvernay and Jacques Perrin of Galatee.

BBC Films’ Christine Langan developed the project with StudioCanal.