Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ralph Fiennes are to star in the true story of Farnsworth House.

The Kindergarten Teacher and Crazy Heart star is teaming up with The White Crow and Spectre actor in the feature, which is set in late 1940s Chicago. Gyllenhaal plays Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a whose ambitious project with the revolutionary Bauhaus architect Mies Van Der Rohe, played by Fiennes, to build the first glass house led them into a passionate but tempestuous love affair. Jeff Bridges was reportedly previously linked to the project.

Richard Press, known feature documentary Bill Cunningham New York, wrote the screenplay and will direct. HanWay Films will oversee international sales and distribution and will commence sales in Berlin at the European Film Market with ICM Partners handling the US sale.

It is produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa (Nebraska, Little Miss Sunshine) through Bona Fide Productions, Matt Flanders (Goldbricks in Bloom, Ted K) of In Your Face Entertainment, and Gyllenhaal. The film is currently in pre-production.

Grant Smith/REX Grant Smith/REX

Gyllenhaal said, “I am always looking for projects about real women, with complicated, interesting minds. They are far and few between and Farnsworth House is a rare find. In Edith Farnsworth is the opportunity to express a full and exciting spectrum of thoughts and feelings. But there is also the opportunity for the most exciting kind of artistic experience: a collaboration. Farnsworth House is a love story between two iconoclasts, two equally interesting players. I’m thrilled to see what Ralph and I will create together with this exceptional script and Richard Press at the helm.”

HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart added, “Richard Press’ background in architecture, design and photography shines through when he describes making a film where passion and creativity collide. Maggie and Ralph will make extraordinary sparring partners and we will be able to witness the building of one of the pillars of modern architecture.”