John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) is on board to direct Oscar-winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) in WWII story Operation Mincemeat.

Set in 1943 when the Allies are determined to launch an all-out assault on ‘Fortress Europe,’ the film will follow two brilliant intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley, who dream up an inspired and improbable disinformation strategy to help the cause.

Michelle Ashford (Masters Of Sex) has written the screenplay, based on Ben Macintyre’s book of the same name. The film is due to go into pre-production later this year.

The project is a See-Saw Films and Cohen Media Group production in association with Archery Pictures. Producers are Charles S. Cohen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Kris Thykier. Simon Gillis, See-Saw’s COO of Film, will serve as executive producer.

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FilmNation Entertainment alongside See-Saw’s in-house sales arm, Cross City Films, will be launching international sales at this year’s Cannes market with CAA Media Finance co-repping U.S. rights.

John Madden commented, “In the context of WW2 narratives, the story of Operation Mincemeat is unique – a bizarre and seductive cinematic blend of high-level espionage and ingenious fiction, where the stakes could hardly be higher. Michelle Ashford’s script fuses multiple strands and moods: tense, romantic, thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and endlessly surprising. It tells a richly human story of the soldiers we seldom see, who fight a different kind of war in shadows and deception, haunted by the knowledge that certainty and guarantee of success are nowhere to be found.”

Madden is repped by CAA in the U.S., Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in the UK., and Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman. Michelle Ashford is represented by CAA and Gendler & Kelly. Colin Firth is repped by CAA in the U.S. and Independent Talent Group and Prosper PR in the UK.