EXCLUSIVE: Richard Gere (Pretty Woman) and Diana Silvers (Booksmart) have been set to star in Oscar winner Edward Zwick‘s romantic drama Asymmetry, which is based on Lisa Halliday’s acclaimed 2018 novel of the same name.

Halliday collaborated with Zwick (The Last Samurai) and Marshall Herskovitz on the screenplay, with Zwick and Herskovitz of the Bedford Falls Company producing alongside Clay Pecorin of Rainmaker Films and FilmNation Entertainment. FilmNation and Rainmaker are co-financing.

FilmNation will launch international sales at the upcoming Cannes market and co-rep domestic rights with CAA Media Finance Group.

Asymmetry, per the logline, tells the story of a young editorial assistant in New York, Alice (Silvers), who comes upon world-renowned 70-year-old author Ezra (Gere) in Central Park one day. Their one moment of eye contact sparks a connection that leads them both down a life-changing rabbit hole, where they create a private world just for two. Ezra, famous for his audacious work, finds someone with whom he can be openly vulnerable, and Alice finds the courage to explore her own aspirations as a writer. Until it is all put at risk when their secret relationship is exposed.

The New Yorker called the book “a literary phenomenon” and the New York Times included it in the list of “15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.” Barack Obama included it in his list of best books from 2018.

Halliday, author and co-writer, said “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Ed and Marshall on transposing Alice and Ezra’s story for the screen. I am enormously grateful to them for their humor, ingenuity, courage, compassion and dedication.”

Zwick, known for producing Oscar winner Shakespeare In Love and for directing movies including Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, said: “Like so many others I was charmed by Lisa’s book, not just because it’s emotional, insightful, and very funny, but because it’s about two people who discover that what the world calls asymmetry can in fact have another name: love.”

Stacey Snider, FilmNation Entertainment Chief Creative Officer, and Clay Pecorin, Rainmaker Films co-founder and partner, added: “Asymmetry tells an unconventional love story that explores an improbable connection between two people at very different stages in their lives, which challenges their — and our — preconceptions about love and power.”

Zwick is repped by CAA and Yorn, Levine. Gere is repped by WME and Hirsch Wallerstein. Silvers is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Jackoway Austen.