Los Angeles, May 22 (IANS): "Sex Education" star Emm Mackey will head the cast of biographical drama about English novelist and poet Emily Bronte.

The film "Emily", incidentally , will also mark the directorial debut of actress Frances O'Connor and trace the early years of the "Wuthering Heights" author, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

"Emily Bronte's work and words are full of passion, feeling, violence and fierce intelligence," O'Connor said, adding: "In creating an imagined life for Emily, she will live again for our audience. Her story is about a young woman daring to form herself, to embrace her true nature, despite the consequences. ... I am so excited to work with such a thrilling, talented, young cast; luminous, intelligent, and spirited."

The cast also includes Joe Alwyn, Fionn Whitehead and Emily Beecham. Alwyn will play Bronte's conflicted lover, Whitehead will portray Branwell Bronte (her inspiring but self-destructive brother), and Beecham will play Bronte's sister and fellow author Charlotte Bronte.

"Wuthering Heights", published in the mid-1800s, is about a doomed love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.

O'Connor will direct Emily based on her own screenplay. The production of the movie is expected to begin in 2021 in Britain's Yorkshire region.