Deadline reported in February that Alan Rickman is set to direct British indie A Little Chaos starring Kate Winslet and Rust & Bone’s Matthias Schoenaerts.

According to the entertainment news agency, Lionsgate UK has boarded the film as main financier as part of a drive to double its investment in local film. Rickman will also star in the love story about rival landscape gardeners who are competing to design a fountain at Versailles for Louis XIV. Principal photography starts in April. Rickman previously directed Emma Thompson and her mother Phyllida Law in 1997′s The Winter Guest. He recently signed with ICM Partners and next plays Ronald Reagan in the Lee Daniels-directed The Butler. Winslet is next starring in Jason Reitman’s Labor Day. Belgian actor Schoenaerts, who broke out in 2011′s Bullhead, just won France’s César Award for Best Male Newcomer in Jacques Audiard’s Rust & Bone.

Lionsgate UK CEO Zygi Kamasa called the film “the perfect project to continue our increasing investment in British films following the success of titles such as Salmon Fishing In The Yemen this last year. We are delighted to be working with the best of British actors and directors like Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman as we move forward in doubling our investment in British films in 2014 and releasing a fantastic slate of quality British titles for 2013.”