Freida Pinto has joined 'Hillbilly Elegy'.

Freida Pinto

Freida Pinto

The movie - which has been in development since 2017 - is based on the 2016 bestselling memoir of the same name by author J.D. Vance, and the 34-year-old actress will be directed by Ron Howard in the motion picture.

Bo Hopkins and Owen Asztalos have also been added to the cast, which already had Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso and Haley Bennett attached.

Vanessa Taylor has adapted the script, while Vance and Julie Oh will executive produce, with Howard, Brian Grazer and Karen Lunder set to produce the film.

The book tells the tale of Vance - who was born in Kentucky - growing up in the Rust Belt, an area of the United States from the Great Lakes to the upper Midwest, where de-industrialisation caused economic decline, population loss, and urban decay.

Thanks to his grandmother, the author learned to appreciate his education which eventually helped him rise out of poverty.

Netflix won a bidding war to finance the $45 million movie in January.

Imagine Entertainment previously secured the rights to the book following a bidding war, and the company's president Erica Huggins previously described the tome as a "powerful, true coming-of-age memoir".

She said in a statement: "'Hillbilly Elegy' is a powerful, true coming-of-age memoir by J.D. Vance.

"Through the lens of a colourful, chaotic family, and with remarkable compassion and self-awareness, J.D. has been able to look back on his own upbringing as a 'hillbilly' to illuminate the plight of America's white working class, speaking directly to the turmoil of our current political climate."

Freida is known for her roles in British drama 'Slumdog Millionaire' and science fiction film 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'.

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