Saoirse Ronan has come aboard Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut How To Catch A Monster alongside Eva Mendes, Matt Smith and Ben Mendelsohn.

Christina Hendricks will star in the film billed as a modern fantasy-drama based on a script by Gosling.

Scheduled to begin shooting this May in Detroit, the movie is being touted to buyers by Sierra/Affinity at the EFM.

Marc Platt and Adam Siegel are producing on behalf of Marc Platt Productions, along with Gosling via his Phantasma Films label and Michel Litvak and David Lancaster via the Bold Films banner.

Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city a single mother of two is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town.

Best known for her roles in Atonement and Hanna, Ronan will next be seen starring in The Host and How I Live Now.

She is currently shooting Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and next stars in Working Title's Mary Queen of Scots.

Smith most recently starred in BBC One series Doctor Who.

Ronan is represented by CAA and Macfarlane Chard. Mendes and Mendelsohn are represented by CAA. Smith is represented by UTA.