Florence Pugh is to star in and produce The Midnight Library.

The 30-year-old actress has been cast in the fantasy drama based on Matt Haig's novel that is being helmed by Lion filmmaker Garth Davis.

In a picture described as a "love letter to life", Pugh will portray Nora Seed - a woman who finds herself in a library between life and death with the opportunity to experience all the possible lives she could have lived.

Sales for the project, which has a screenplay penned by Laura Wade and Nick Payne, will be launched at the upcoming Cannes market.

Haig will serve as an executive producer on the film, which will enter pre-production in the autumn with an eye to begin filming at the start of 2027.

Davis said: "I couldn't be more excited to reunite with Florence Pugh on The Midnight Library. Her warmth and talent are magical, and together I know we'll do something special working with Matt's iconic novel. This is a story that moves us both -- a celebration of life in all its possibility and complexity. With Graham Broadbent, Blueprint Pictures and Studiocanal behind us, I can't wait to illuminate this adventure."

Haig added: "I am so happy that Nora's story is in such great hands, and that her myriad possibilities will be vividly reawakened by the absolute perfect team. And I can't wait for people to see my book reimagined for the big screen."

Anna Marsh, CEO Studiocanal and Chief Content Officer of Canal+ Group, said: "We are thrilled to be working with such exceptional talent to bring Matt Haig's deeply moving novel to the big screen in partnership with Blueprint Pictures. Garth's film is a love letter to life, a tantalisingly powerful take on a script that gives you the immediacy and high stakes of time running out with unparalleled emotion. I cannot wait for Florence Pugh to take us on Nora's journey as she finds her way to a profound love for life."

Meanwhile, Florence previously described it how it can be a "bit stickier" being a woman during filming as "you can't really be a problem because people will say that you're a nightmare".

The Midsommar star told The Louis Theroux Podcast last year: "I remember I was doing a crying scene and there were just all of these specific beats that I needed to get, and specifically on specific lines.

"And we did it maybe six times, and each time you have to start with no tears and then gear up. So you have to stay in it. And we got it and the director wanted to go again. And when I'm in that state, I'm a bit mushy, so I'm like, 'Okay, we'll do it again.' "

As a woman, Florence didn't feel she could speak up and say she didn't want more takes of such an emotionally exhausting scene, but her male co-star made an appeal to the director on her behalf.

She recalled: "My co-star went out to the director and said, 'Don't do that, man. Don't put her through that. She's got it. We got it. You've got the close-up, you've got the wide, don't do that.'

"And I realised when I was in the tent, I was like, 'Oh, I wouldn't have been able to have said that because that wouldn't have been received well.'"