2015 will be filled with some ridiculously-sized blockbusters, and while those are all well and good, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on The Light Between Oceans.  The story takes place on a remote Australian island following World War I and “follows a lighthouse keeper and his wife who are faced with a moral dilemma when a boat washes ashore with a dead man and an infant.  When they decide to raise the child as their own, the consequences are devastating."  The adaptation of M.L. Stedman‘s debut novel is being directed by Derek Cianfrance, who previously helmed the haunting Blue Valentine and the powerful, family epic The Place Beyond the Pines.  Furthermore, he's attracted yet another talented cast.  Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander are attached to play the lighthouse keeper and the wife with Rachel Weisz in talks to play the child's mother.

That's a lot of talent for one film, and it looks like it will start filming in September.  Hit the jump for more.

According to The New Zealand Herald [via Flicks and Bits], auditions are being held for Kiwi girls between the ages of four and six.  The child must have "good imagination and confident personality," and no acting experience is necessary.  The NZ Herald says filming is set to begin in New Zealand in September.

I haven't read the book, so I don't know how major this role will be, but I'm just glad that filming will be underway soon because that means we'll probably be getting a new Cianfrance movie next year and a hefty bag of emotional gut-punches.

Here's the official synopsis for M.L. Steadman's The Light Between Oceans:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. [Amazon]