Carla Gugino, who starred in Spy Kids and Fall of the House of Usher, will play Hollywood legend Vivien Leigh in the biopic titled The Florist. The Oscar winner is renowned for playing Scarlett O'Hara, the central character in 1939's Hollywood classic Gone With the Wind, opposite Clark Gable. She also played the role of Blanche DuBois opposite Marlon Brando in 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire.

What more do we know about the film The Florist?

Nick Sandow, known for his role in 2013 drama series Orange Is The New Black, will direct The Florist, reported Variety. Screenwriter Jayce Bartok of The Cake Eaters fame penned the script based on a box of love letters. The biopic will explore Leigh's struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s, as she prepares to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud's Chekhov adaptation of Ivanov. Gugino, known for her work in Gerald's Game, the Spy Kids films and The Unborn, said she is looking forward to playing Leigh on screen.

"I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew The Florist was a journey I had to pursue," the actor said.

According to the official synopsis, "Leigh collides with Joseph Penn - a WWII veteran and blue-collar florist who encounters Leigh on a delivery. At the same time, the star attends a local psychiatric facility for electroconvulsive therapy. Amidst the backdrop of madness, Leigh and Penn become each other’s sources of truth, beauty, and love." The Florist will start production at the end of the summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

More about Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh, known as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her roles as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in the film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, which she had previously played on stage in London's West End in 1949. Vivien Leigh was born on November 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India. She was born to Ernest Hartley, a British Officer in the Indian Cavalry. Her original name was Vivian Mary Hartley.

(With PTI inputs)