Alfredson to helm Kidman transsexual drama

Tomas Alfredson will direct Nicole Kidman in sex-change drama The Danish Girl.

The Let The Right One In filmmaker has signed up to helm the movie, which recounts the story of Einar Wegener (Kidman), who in 1931 became the first man to undergo gender alteration surgery.

"We have been in talks for close to a year, and we are soon going into production," Alfredson told Variety.

Charlize Theron had been attached to play Wegener's wife Greta, who inadvertently began the transformation by asking her husband to pose as a female opera singer for a portrait, but the Monster actress recently dropped out of the role.