Lily James, Armie Hammer to star in 'Rebecca' adaptation

Actors Armie Hammer and Lily James will be playing the lead in the new adaptation of "Rebecca", the 1938 Daphne du Maurier gothic thriller.

Screenwriter Jane Goldman has adapted the book, which has never gone out of print since its publication, for Netflix and Working Title, the streaming giant said in a press release.

The film, to be directed by Ben Wheatley, will follow a newly-married young woman who, on arriving at her husband's imposing family estate on a bleak English coast, finds herself battling the shadow of his dead first wife, the mysterious Rebecca, whose legacy continues to haunt the house.

Working Title's Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan will produce along with Nira Park. The film is expected to go into production in the spring.

The novel has been presented many times on the big screen. It was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture-winning film, starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, in 1940.

James, 29, most recently starred in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" and will be next seen in an untitled Danny Boyle film.

Hammer, 32, has previously worked with Wheatley on the 2016 action-comedy "Free Fire". The actor will next appear in Mimi Leder's "On the Basis of Sex", Anthony Maras' "Hotel Mumbai" and Babak Anvari's untitled feature.