Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke will star in “The Sound of Metal,” a drama that will mark the directorial debut of Darius Marder, who is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Derek Cianfrance.

Mathieu Amalric and up-and-coming actress Lauren Ridloff are also on board.

Story follows a drummer (Ahmed), whose life and relationship with his bandmate girlfriend are turned upside-down when he unexpectedly begins to lose his hearing, and he must go to great lengths to recapture the woman and the music he loves. A large number of the cast has been drawn from the Deaf community

Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche are producing with Caviar. Executive Producers are Michael Sagol and Jasper Thomlinson at Caviar and Dan Sbrega and Daniel “Dickey” Abedon at Ward Four. Production is set to start next week in Boston.

Next up, Ahmed will co-star in “The Sisters Brothers,” directed by acclaimed auteur Jacques Audiard, and in Sony’s “Venom.” Ahmed recently co-created and sold a modern-day take on “Hamlet” to Netflix, a feature film he will also topline. He has also sold a nine-part drama series to the BBC called “Englistan.”

Cooke most recently starred in Warner Bros.’ “Ready Player One” from Steven Spielberg and the Focus Features thriller “Thoroughbreds.” She can be seen this fall in the ITV/Amazon show “Vanity Fair.” The actress will also appear in Dan Fogelman’s highly anticipated film “Life Itself.”

Caviar has previously produced such films such as “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” as well as indie-darling “The Rider”, which is currently rounding out it’s US theatrical release after being sold to Sony Pictures Classics on the heels of winning top-prize at the 2017 Cannes Director’s Fortnight.

Ahmed is represented by CAA, and Gordon and French in the U.K. Cooke is represented by CAA, Grandview, Shepherd Management in the U.K., and attorney Gretchen Bruggeman Rush.