Cate Blanchett will star in and produce a fantasy drama film about a mercurial woman who has the ability to see what people need most in life.

The 56-year-old Australian will play a mercurial character in the upcoming movie, which will mark the directorial debut of screenwriter Alice Birch.

“I could not be more excited to be making my debut feature as a director with such an extraordinary team of filmmakers and collaborators,” Birch said in a statement.

The 38-year-old Briton is thrilled to be working with Blanchett and producers Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Theo Barrowclough and Lee Groombridge.

Birch has previously written TV shows such as Succession and Normal People.

“I am in the safest hands with Tessa Ross and her brilliant team at House, and am so proud to be working with Searchlight and Film4. To have the peerless Cate Blanchett at the centre of it is thrilling.”

Filming will begin in the UK and Greece this northern autumn, with Blanchett’s Dirty Films banner producing the project.

Blanchett, who has two best actress Oscars, is widely recognised as one of the best actresses of her generation. However, she previously confessed to feeling “quite dislocated” from film fans.

“I often feel as an actor quite dislocated from the audience,” she told Extra.

“When you’re working in film, you don’t know how many people have seen it. How they’ve seen it, if they’ve enjoyed it, and often you don’t get the figures, so you don’t know how many bums on seats there are.

“Whereas when you’re in the theatre, you know not only how many people are there, whether they leave, or whether they fall asleep, or whether they’re engaged. It’s a more fluid, direct experience and engaged experience with an audience, which I love.”