Natalie Portman to star in and produce The Days of Abandonment

Natalie Portman has signed up to star in and executive produce a new movie adaptation of Elena Ferrante's bestselling novel The Days of Abandonment.

The Oscar-winning actress will lead the film as the character Tess, a woman who abandoned her own dreams for a stable home life, so her world is turned upside down when her husband leaves her, according to Variety.

Portman will executive produce the project along with Sophie Mas for their MountainA production banner. Ferrante will also executive produce the movie adaptation alongside Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler of Maven Screen Media, Len Amato, Domenico Procacci, and Maria Zuckerman.

Maggie Betts has been tapped to direct the HBO Films project, which is currently in the pre-production stage, and she has also adapted the 2002 novel and will serve as an executive producer.

Sharing a grab of the Variety article on her Instagram Stories, Portman wrote, "Excited to bring one of my favourite books to life... and work with the phenomenal @maggiebetts!"

Portman and her producing partner Mas recently signed a first-look TV deal with Apple and she is set to star in the company's limited series Lady in the Lake, an adaptation of Laura Lipman's novel, alongside Lupita Nyong'o. She is currently reprising her role as Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder.

The Days of Abandonment has already enjoyed success on the big screen - Roberto Faenza directed an adaptation, starring Margherita Buy and Luca Zingaretti, in 2005.

Ferrante, a pseudonymous Italian novelist, also wrote The Lost Daughter, which is being remade as a new movie directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Oscar winner Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, and Gyllenhaal's husband Peter Sarsgaard.