Ellen Page is set to star as Leslie Martz – a gay US marine who forged close bonds with the wives of Taliban fighters – in indie drama Lioness, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Lance Corporal Martz was appointed leader of a Female Engagement Team in Afghanistan, which aimed to foster greater independence for local women and to gather information about their rebel husbands. The film will show how she became conflicted by her loyalty to her targets, all the while fighting to keep her sexuality a secret from army bosses.
James Dahl – who recently finished work on David Foster Wallace biopic The End of the Tour – is producing, along with Rosalind Ross, who also wrote the screenplay. As yet, no director has signed.
Before Lioness is released, Page will be seen in two features this year. She co-stars with Julianne Moore in Freeheld, a drama depicting the struggle of terminal cancer patient Laurel Hester to pass on her pension benefits to her husband. Page will also play the lead role in Canadian drama Into the Forest, battling starvation and exposure as a survivor in a dystopian world.
