Jennifer Connelly takes female lead in 'American Pastoral'

The actress has joined the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of Philip Roth's Pulitzer-winning novel, The Wrap reports.

Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce will helm the feature, in which Jennifer Connelly will co-star opposite Ewan McGregor. Production is slated to begin in March 2015.

Part of Roth's "American Trilogy," "American Pastoral" examines the seemingly perfect life of Seymour Levov, a successful New Jersey businessman referred to as "the Swede" by his former classmate Nathan Zuckerman, the novel's narrator.

The protagonist's idyllic existence begins to fall apart at the seams when his 16-year-old daughter rebels by protesting the Vietnam War and runs away after committing an act of terrorism that ends up taking someone's life.

Ewan McGregor will topline the production as the Swede, while Jennifer Connelly will play his wife, Dawn, a former beauty queen. There is no word yet on who might play Nathan Zuckerman, a role that could be limited to a simple voiceover narration or possibly even eliminated in the screenplay by John Romano ("The Lincoln Lawyer," "Intolerable Cruelty").

Connelly, who won an Oscar for her performance in "A Beautiful Mind" and was recently seen in Darren Aronofsky's "Noah," recently starred in the indie drama "Shelter," directed by her husband Paul Bettany. The film's release date remains unannounced.