Goldcrest Films to take the story of the engineer behind the Brooklyn Bridge to EFM.

Daniel Radcliffe is attached to star in Brooklyn Bridge, the true story of brilliant but inexperienced engineer Washington Roebling who is left to oversee the construction of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge following the death of his father.

Set in the late 19th century, the Harry Potter star will play Roebling, besieged by calamity, danger and doubt, whose obsession threatens his health and to drive his family apart until his wife Emily comes to his aid.

Goldcrest Films will finance, distribute and sell all international rights to the feature, which will be directed by Douglas McGrath - best known for directing Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma and Truman Capote biopic Infamous.

McGrath also wrote the screenplay and the film will be produced by Christine Vachon for Killer Films and by Rose Ganguzza.  Executive producers are Goldcrest’s Nick Quested and Pascal Degove together with Jill Samuels.

The film is set to shoot in August 2014 and subsequent casting announcements, including the lead actress, are expected in the coming weeks.

Goldcrest will handle international sales, marketing and distribution and will be introducing distributors to the title at the forthcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin. 

Goldcrest Post, which houses the Oscar-winning sound team behind Les Misérables, will provide picture and sound post production services.

Radcliffe was most recently seen in Sony Pictures Classics’ Kill Your Darlings andwill next be seen starring opposite Zoe Kazan in CBS Films and eOnes’s romantic comedy The F Word, as well as starring opposite Juno Temple in the horror-thriller Horns, based on Joe Hill’s best selling book.

Radcliffe will next star with James McAvoy in Paul McGuigan’s Frankenstein.

Pascal Degove, managing director of Goldcrest Films, said: “Having Daniel’s involvement is a massive coup for the film. Not only is he perfect for the role, but he’s consistently proved himself to be one of the very few actors who is genuinely a massive draw for audiences of all ages.”

Producer Vachon claimed that McGrath had written “an extraordinary script”.