Kidman set to play transsexual

Nicole Kidman is set to play the world's first transsexual in an independent film starring fellow best actress Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, according to reports.

Australian beauty Kidman will star and produce The Danish Girl, a movie based on the true story of Danish artists Einar and Gerda Wegener, according to entertainment industry daily The Hollywood Reporter.

Einar Wegener, who will be played by Kidman, was a male artist who underwent ground-breaking surgery to become a woman in 1931 after pretending to be a female model in a series of successful portraits painted by Gerda Wegener.

Theron, a best actress Oscar-winner for Monster, will play Gerda Wegener, the report said. The film is to be adapted from David Ebershoff's successful 2000 novel of the same name.

Kidman, who celebrated the birth of a daughter earlier this year, has not appeared on screen since last year's fantasy tale The Golden Compass. She will next be seen in Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia due for release in the United States later this month.