The story of the first person to
undergo sex reassignment surgery is coming to the big screen, reports
The Hollywood Reporter.
Nicole Kidman is set to star in and
produce the dramatic story of the world's first transgender person,
Danish artist Einar Wagener. The movie is being adapted from the
novel The Danish Girl, a fictionalized account of the Wagener
story by freshman novelist David Ebershoff.
Einar (played by Kidman, The Hours,
Moulin Rouge! ) first became consumed with the idea of altering
his sex after his wife, Greta Wegener played by Charlize Theron
(Cider House Rules, Monster), asked him to stand in for a
female model she was set to paint.
Einar posed for a number of paintings
for his wife; the paintings became wildly popular in 1920's Copenhagen.
Greta's game of dressing her husband as a woman ultimately led him to
his historic 1931 operation. The transformation shocked the world
and threatened the couple's marriage.
Kidman and Theron worked together
previously in the 2002 film The Hours, where
– ironically enough – Kidman delivered an Oscar-winning portrayal of
a lesbian character. Thirty-three year-old Theron also won an Oscar
playing gay in the film Monster.