Oscar-winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman are to play husband and wife in an upcoming film about the world's first transsexual. Paltrow, 37, and Kidman 42, will play artists Greta and Einar Wegener in The Danish Girl, entertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety reported on Monday.

Einar Wegener, who will be played by Kidman, was a male artist who underwent groundbreaking surgery to become a woman in 1931 after pretending to be a female model in a series of successful portraits painted by Greta Wegener. South African actress Charlize Theron had initially been pencilled in for the role of Greta Wegener until being replaced by Paltrow.

Kidman most recently appeared in Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic Australia last year and will next be seen in the musical Nine. Paltrow, who scooped an Academy Award for 1998's Shakespeare in Love, was last seen in the 2008 romantic drama Two Lovers.