Cobham-Hervey will play Helen Reddy in I Am Woman, with Macdonald returning to Australia triumphant to portray her friend, rock journalist and club owner Lillian Roxon.

I Am Woman is the story of Helen Reddy, who, in 1966, landed in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230 in her pocket. Within weeks she was broke. Within five years she was one of the biggest superstars of her time, the first ever Australian Grammy Award winner and an icon of the 1970s feminist movement. Helen wrote the anthem ‘I Am Woman’, which galvanised a generation of women to fight for change.

Working from a script by Emma Jensen (Mary Shelley), I Am Woman will mark the feature directorial debut of US based Australian Unjoo Moon, with her husband Dion Beebe (Chicago, Collateral, Edge of Tomorrow) on DOP duties, and Rosemary Blight (The Sapphires, Upgrade) producing.

“Helen Reddy is one of the most successful singers ever to come out of Australia and, while it is remarkable that her story has never been told before on the screen, this moment in history seems like the absolutely perfect time to make this film and celebrate both her achievements as an artist and the enduring legacy of her song ‘I Am Woman’,” commented Blight in a statement.

The casting of the two leads also comes at an opportune time, with Tilda Cobham-Hervey starring in the upcoming Hotel Mumbai, and Danielle Macdonald on a roll after her breakthrough in Patti Cake$ – like Reddy and Roxon, she had to go overseas to make her mark.

Production commences in November in Sydney, with Australia/New Zealand distribution by Transmission Films with Cowlick Entertainment (Harmony).