According to Variety, Paramount has tapped Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello to portray the wives of Port Authority officers rescued from the World Trade Center in the studio's untitled Oliver Stone project.

Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena had been previously announced as filling the respective roles of Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer William J. Jimeno.

Stone's expected to start shooting the pic, based on Andrea Berloff's script, this fall in New York.

The project is produced by Double Feature Films' Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher and former InterMedia Films chairman Moritz Borman. The late Debra Hill will be credited as a producer.

Gyllenhaal and Bello read for the parts last week and have already met with their real-life counterparts.

"Both the Jimenos and the McLoughlins were impressed by the level of commitment that Michael, Maggie and Maria were making to tell this story the right way," Shamberg and Sher said. "They all have the complete support of both families."

Jimeno and McLoughlin were among the many rescuers who risked their lives Sept. 11, 2001, by rushing into the smoking WTC buildings. The duo was among the few who survived the fall of the towers, thanks to the frantic efforts of other rescuers who pulled them from the rubble before their oxygen ran out.

Gyllenhaal is currently appearing in Happy Endings. Bello stars in New Line's upcoming A History of Violence.