Jessica Chastain has inked a deal to star in Niki Caro's upcoming adaptation The Zookeeper's Wife.

Based on a novel by Diane Ackerman, the film tells the true story of zoo keepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski of the Warsaw Zoo during World War II. The pair saved hundreds of lives during the Nazi invasion of Poland by smuggling Jews into empty cages.

Niki Caro is directing from a script provided by Angela Workman. Jeff Abberley, Mike Tollin, Kim Zubick, Diane Miller-Levin and Robbie Rowe-Tollin will be producing.

Jessica Chastain most recently starred in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. She will next be seen in Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak.

The project will likely to hit the market in Cannes.