British actress Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) will star as her country’s longest reigning monarch in the biopic The Young Victoria, to be helmed by Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y. ) for producers Graham King (The Departed) of Initial Entertainment Group and Martin Scorsese.

A spokesman for King’s Los Angeles office says additional casting is underway. Penned by Academy Award-winning Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), Young Victoria recounts the queen’s rise to the throne in 1837 at age 18, to her romance with her husband Prince Albert. The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, who reportedly suggested the project to King, will also produce.

Blunt won a 2007 Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her role as a sullen teenager in the made-for-TV movie Gideon’s Daughter.