British star
Rhys Ifans has joined the cast of Netflix film '
Nyad
', led by actors Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. The film will mark the feature directorial debut of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the duo behind Oscar-winning 2018 documentary "Free Solo".
The movie is a biopic on marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who, in 2013 at the age of 64, became the first person to swim the 110-mile distance from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage.
It was her fifth attempt, and she executed it by undertaking a 53-hour journey through the dangerous open ocean that included overcoming not just sharks but poisonous jellyfish.
Bening will star as Nyad, while Foster will play Bonnie Stoll, her coach and longtime friend.
Ifans, known for movies such as "Notting Hill", "Kevin & Perry Go Large" and "The Amazing Spider-Man", will feature as
John Bartlett
, the Florida-based boat designer and captain of the catamaran that accompanied Diana as she swam.
Bartlett strategically and meticulously planned and navigated Nyad's swim though the Florida Straits, keenly aware of the impact of weather and ocean currents on her journey.
Emmy winner Ann Biderman and Black List scribe Julia Cox have penned the script, adapting it from Nyad's autobiography "Find a Way".
The project will be produced by Andrew Lazar and
Teddy Schwarzman
.
Ifans most recently starred in
Matthew Vaughn's "The King's Man" and Marvel Studios blockbuster "Spider-Man: No Way Home".
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