British screenwriter Simon Beaufoy has signed on to adapt the immigrant story “In the Skin of a Lion” as a movie for Serendipity Point Films, UK’s Film4 and Potboiler Films.

Serendipity’s Robert Lantos (“Barney’s Version,” “Eastern Promises”) and Potboiler’s Andrea Calderwood (“A Most Wanted Man,” “The Last King of Scotland”) will produce.

The project is based on Michael Ondaatje’s 1987 novel about the lives of immigrants who played a large role in the building of the city of Toronto in the early 1900s. The story focuses on romance and class conflict amidst the clash between immigrant workers and the ruling elite.

“In the Heart of a Lion” introduced the characters Hana and David Caravaggio, who were also in Ondaatje’s 1992 novel “The English Patient.” The Anthony Minghella adaptation of the novel won nine Academy Awards, including best picture and best supporting actress for Juliette Binoche in the role of Hana.

Beaufoy won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for “Slumdog Millionaire” and received screenplay nominations for “127 Hours” and “The Full Monty.” Beaufoy’s credits include “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Everest.”

Serendipity Point’s most recent release was “Remember,” directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Christopher Plummer. Potboiler Productions’ credits include “The Constant Gardener,” “Our Kind of Traitor,” Alan Rickman’s “A Little Chaos” and “Final Portrait,” written and directed by Stanley Tucci. Film4’s credits include “12 Years a Slave,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room” and Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina.”