Story written by The Film Nest guest contributor Chase Kahn (see him in the Comments section).

44 year-old Swedish director Tomas Alfredson will direct the upcoming sex-change drama, The Danish Girl, starring Nicole Kidman, according to Variety. The film is an adaptation of the David Ebershoff novel about real-life Danish painter Einar Wegener (Kidman) who became the first person to undergo a sex-change operation to become a woman in 1931.

Charlize Theron, who was originally tapped to star as Einar’s wife, has left the production, while Lucinda Coxon wrote the adapted screenplay.

The Danish Girl is definitely a step towards the spotlight for Alfredson, who broke through last year when his Swedish-language vampire film, an adaptation of the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel, Let the Right One In, was a major critical success. So much in fact, that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) is currently helming an English-language remake, titled Let Me In. Although the director swears it’s another adaptation of the source novel, not a remake of the Alfredson film.

It will be interesting to see what they do with Kidman’s look before her sex-change operation, as well as afterwards. It seems like it would be much easier to cast a man as Einar Wegener, but such is the challenge of a role like this that usually brings great rewards if the actress can pull it off.  Don’t you think? The Danish Girl will tentatively release sometime in 2010.