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Anne Hathaway in the dock in 'The Lifeboat'

The Hollywood star is to co-produce and star in this no-exit-style drama on the high seas. The screenplay is based on a novel by Charlotte Rogan, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

"The Lifeboat" has attached Anne Hathaway to co-produce and to play Grace Winter, a newlywed already widowed and standing trial for murder in 1914.

The feature tells the story in flashback of the ordeal this woman underwent after the sinking of the transatlantic ship Empress. The screenplay follows the fate of 39 survivors of the wreck adrift on an overcrowded lifeboat. Three long weeks marked by increasing signs of exhaustion and paranoia turn their struggle for survival on the open sea into a nightmare and pit them between a rock and a hard place with some damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't choices to make.

"The Lifeboat" will be scripted by William Broyles, Jr., who wrote the dramas "Apollo 13," "Cast Away" and "Jarhead." The project doesn't have a director yet but will be produced by the studios Working Title and Focus Features.

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