Sydney Sweeney to star in Custom of the Country movie adaptation

Sydney Sweeney will lead the movie adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The Custom of the Country.

The Housemaid actress has signed up to produce the project and star as Undine Spragg, an ambitious Midwestern woman seeking to climb the social ladder in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.

Armed with beauty, sheer force of will and unwavering ambition, Spragg battles an entrenched elite, fearlessly courting controversy, until love and fortune align, according to the official announcement.

Mary Queen of Scots filmmaker Josie Rourke has adapted Wharton's 1913 novel and will direct from her own screenplay.

In a statement, Rourke said she was thrilled to cast the "luminous" actress as "the original dangerous woman".

"Edith Wharton's character has forever fascinated, seduced and infuriated readers. The Custom of the Country was Wharton's great American novel, and Undine Spragg sweeps across America and through Europe at top speed, during a time of immense economic and social change," she continued.

"The book whistles with modernity and as I was writing this adaptation, Sydney Sweeney lived in my head as this iconic character - it's as if Wharton sat down a century ago and wrote the role for her."

Sweeney has yet to comment on her casting, however, she shared the news on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

Casting director Nina Gold is currently assembling the ensemble cast, and production is expected to begin imminently.

Filmmaker Sofia Coppola was previously working on a TV adaptation of The Custom of the Country, with Florence Pugh set to play the ambitious social climber, but that project never came to fruition.