Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan will co-star in 'Wildlife'.

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal

The pair - who previously worked together on the movie 'Brothers' - have signed up to star in Paul Dano's directorial debut, which is based on the Richard Ford novel and tells the story of a teenage boy who watches his parents' marriage fall apart after the family moves to Montana.

Paul told Variety: "In Richard's book I saw myself and many others. I have always wanted to make films - and have always known I would make films about family. I couldn't be happier to have such beautiful collaborators like Carey and Jake leading the way."

Andrew Duncan and Alex Saks from June Pictures added: "Paul is a natural born storyteller -- a force. We are thrilled to collaborate with him and these phenomenal actors to bring his exquisite vision for this film to life."

Paul and his long-term partner Zoe Kazan co-wrote the script for the indie movie.

The couple - who have been in a relationship together since 2007 - first worked together on 2012's 'Ruby Sparks' which was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a script by Kazan, and followed a nervous novelist (Dano) whose fictional character, Ruby Sparks, (Kazan) is brought to life.

Jake is currently working on the movie 'Life' for Skydance while Carey recently wrapped production on 'Mudbound'.