DreamWorks Studios has tapped Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) to helm its post-WWI set lit adaptation The Light Between Oceans. Author M.L. Stedman’s debut novel and international bestseller is about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who are faced with a moral dilemma when a boat washes up on their remote Australian island with a dead man and a two-year-old. They raise the child as their own with devastating consequences. Harry Potter vet David Heyman will produce for Heyday Films with Jeffrey Clifford. Rosie Allen shepherded the project to Heyday and will exec produce. Said DreamWorks head Stacey Snider: “We certainly believe [Cianfrance] can make a modern epic from M.L.’s poignant novel and will be able to capture the great epic sweep and emotional honestly of this story.” Cianfrance is repped by CAA and Electric City Entertainment.

In what would be a very exciting pairing between actor and filmmaker, Michael Fassbender is in talks to star in Derek Cianfrance's DreamWorks drama “The Light Between Oceans,” TheWrap has learned.

The project is based on the international bestseller from first-time novelist M.L. Stedman, whose book has been translated into nearly 30 languages since it was published in the U.S. in July 2012 by Scribner.

Set on a remote Australian island in the years following World War I, story follows a lighthouse keeper and his wife who are faced with a moral dilemma when a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a two-month-old infant. When they decide to raise the child as their own, the consequences of their choice are devastating.

“Gravity” producer David Heyman will produce through his Heyday Films banner along with Jeffrey Clifford. Rosie Alison will executive produce, having brought the book into Heyday.

Cianfrance won the job by proving himself capable of handling emotional subject matter in his past films “Blue Valentine” and “The Place Beyond the Pines,” both of which starred Ryan Gosling.


While Cianfrance is attached to direct several projects around town, “Light Between Oceans” will be next now that Cianfrance has found his leading man, who will shoot the DreamWorks film before “Prometheus 2.”

Fassbender next stars as young Magneto in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and the title characters in Justin Kurzel's “Macbeth” and Lenny Abrahamson's “Frank.” He's also attached to star in “Assassin's Creed” for New Regency.

Fassbender is represented by CAA.

HONG KONG – Oscar-nominated “X-Men” star Michael Fassbender and Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz will star in “The Light Between Oceans,” the Derek Cianfrance-directed period drama for DreamWorks Studios.

The picture will shoot from the end of next month in New Zealand’s Marlborough and Otago regions.

The story is about a young lighthouse keeper and his wife who decide to keep an orphaned child who is washed up on shore. But doing so has devastating consequences.

Alicia Vikander also stars in the adaptation of a 1920s-set book by M L Stedman.

David Heyman, who produced the eight “Harry Potter” movies, and Jeffrey Clifford are producing.

“The production coming here is the result of successful collaboration between a range of agencies including Marlborough District Council, Film Otago Southland and Film New Zealand working together with the producers,” said Film New Zealand chief executive Gisella Carr.

The DreamWorks film is expected to access the country’s ‘International Grant’ scheme.