Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy will star in the romantic comedy Hysteria for Forthcoming Films, Beachfront Films and Informant Media.

The film charts the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England and is based on a screenplay by Stephen Dyer and Jonah Lisa Dyer.

Tanya Wexler will direct and the cast includes Jonathan Pryce and Rupert Everett. Elle Drive is handling international sales and Tom Ortenberg’s One Way Out Media represents North American rights.

Forthcoming Films’ Sarah Curtis, Beachfront Films’ Tracey Becker and Informant Media’s Judy Cairo are producing the film, set to commence shooting in London and Luxembourg in October.

Dancy will play the doctor Mortimer Granville who champions the vibrator while searching for a cure for a women’s unexplained anger. Sparks fly when Granville is challenged by a noted female physician’s daughter (Gyllenhaal) who deems the device to be frivolous.

Gyllenhaal is represented by CAA and The Schiff Company’s Courtney Kivowitz. Dancy is represented by UTA, Gene Parseghian and United Agents.

Informant’s Michael A Simpson and Eric Brenner, Sandra Siegal and Ken Atchity, Mark Kress, and Stephen Dyer are executive producers.