British actress KATE WINSLET is set to play FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE in a $60 million (£40 million) Hollywood biopic.

The romantic drama FLORENCE is being developed by COLUMBIA with a view to beginning filming in Autumn in the Mediterranean and London. The story will cover the reforming nurse's life when she volunteered for the Crimean War in 1854 and fell in love with a soldier she tended after the Battle of Inkerman.

The officer, however, was already engaged and Florence's heart was broken by the affair which never was. American star JOAQUIN PHOENIX is being tipped to play her lover in the movie with OLIVER PARKER, of AN IDEAL HUSBAND fame, directing. A source says, "Several big-name American actresses are interested in getting the part but Kate Winslet is in pole position unless she backs out." (RGS/WNWCAN/KW)

Source: WENN