In what could prove to be a very interesting pairing, Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, Frank) is currently in talks to join DreamWorks’ The Light Between the Oceans, which will be directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines).

The Light Between the Oceans is an adaptation of the M.L. Stedman novel in which a lighthouse keeper (Fassbender) and his wife find a boat washed ashore containing a dead man and an infant girl. Rather than reporting the incident, the couple raise the girl as their own, but what was once seen as a blessing turns out to have tragic consequences.

Cianfrance is known for tackling tough topics in his films. His movie Blue Valentine features a couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse, while The Place Beyond the Pines demonstrates how the moral compromises of two fathers affect the lives of their sons for better or worse. Fassbender is also no stranger to morally heavy material. He earned widespread recognition for his gut-wrenching portrayal of a sex addict in Shame, while his most recent turn as the ruthless slave master Edwin Epps in 12 Years a Slave drew an Academy Award nomination. 

Filming for The Light Between the Oceans is expected to begin later this year in Australia.