Rachel Weisz is set to play a gender-fluid Victorian doctor, and this movie cannot be released soon enough

If you loved American Honey and Still Alice, we have amazing news for you: The film studio behind those two movies, Maven Pictures, has secured the rights to The Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry: Victorian England’s Most Eminent Surgeon by author Rachel Holmes, and Rachel Weisz is set to star as the gender-fluid Victorian doctor.

The movie is based on the true story of Dr. Barry, born Margaret Ann Bulkley, a woman who lived her life as a man first to gain entry into a male-only medical school, and then to continue a successful career as a physician.

Historians have argued over whether Dr. Barry was in fact a transgender man, a woman forced into disguise, or gender-fluid, but regardless, the story of a gender-nonconforming doctor living during a period in which women had so little access to public space is undoubtedly powerful.

Deadline reports that Maven’s film marks the first time Dr. Barry’s story will be told on the big screen; the BBC produced a documentary series called A Skirt Through History in 1994 that included tales of Dr. Barry’s achievements in medicine, but her life was not the sole focus of the series.

Writes Deadline reporter Anita Busch,

"[Dr. Barry] became a prominent surgeon who spent her groundbreaking career championing the rights of the lower classes and pushing for medical reforms and better sanitary conditions."

Sounds like a pretty incredible human being. We can’t wait for this flick to hit theaters — even though that might not be until 2018!