Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World) has joined the cast of Disney+‘s adaptation of Young Woman And The Sea, Deadline has learned. The film, which is currently in production also stars Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Stephen Graham.

Based on the book of the same name by author Glenn Stout Young Woman And The Sea chronicles the daring journey of the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle (Ridley) made the 21-mile swim in 1926. The daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan, Ederle was a competitive swimmer who won gold in the 1924 Olympics when she decided to attempt crossing the channel. She undertook the feat after first swimming 22 miles from Battery Park in New York to Sandy Hook, NJ, setting a record that stood for 81 years. She contracted with two newspapers and sold her story, thereby financing her quest. There was actually a race among women who would be first to cross as only five men had done so before.

Eccleston’s role is being kept under wraps.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil director Joachim Rønning is set to direct with Jeff Nathanson (The Lion King) writing. Frequent Disney producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman are producing the project, which reteams them with Rønning after their collaboration on 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Nathanson also wrote on the film.

Nathanson was eager to write the project several years ago, becoming as obsessed as he was when he found the memoir of Frank Abagnale Jr and turned his years as a charming young con man into the Steven Spielberg-directed Catch Me If you Can. Bruckheimer, who has one of 2020’s biggest box office hits Bad Boys For Life, was also keen on keeping the project alive. Production on the project is expected to begin later this month.