Sydney Sweeney and Leo Woodall start production on The Custom of the Country

Sydney Sweeney and Leo Woodall have begun filming their new period drama The Custom of the Country.

Studiocanal officials announced on Thursday that the cameras are now rolling on the film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1913 novel.

Sweeney, who is also producing the project, stars as Undine Spragg, an ambitious Midwestern woman seeking to climb the social ladder in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.

Armed with beauty, hustle and sheer force of will, Undine battles an entrenched elite, fearlessly courting controversy, until love and fortune align, according to the announcement.

It has not been revealed which character Woodall, best known for The White Lotus and One Day, is playing.

To mark the start of production, the rest of the cast were unveiled. Sweeney and Woodall will be joined by Dominic West, Miranda Richardson, Downton Abbey's Matthew Goode, Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie and Derry Girls actress Louisa Harland.

Other new additions include Martha Plimpton, Hugh Dancy, Josh Finan, Louis Garrel, Irene Jacob, Ian Hart, James McArdle, Rosie Sheehy and Ronk? Adék?lu?´j?´.

The Custom of the Country is being directed by Mary Queen of Scots filmmaker Josie Rourke, who adapted Wharton's novel for the screen.

When Sweeney's casting was announced in January, Rourke said she was thrilled to have the "luminous" actress play "the original dangerous woman".

"The book whistles with modernity and as I was writing this adaptation, Sydney Sweeney lived in my head as this iconic character - it's as if Wharton sat down a century ago and wrote the role for her," she added.

Filmmaker Sofia Coppola was previously working on a TV adaptation of The Custom of the Country, with Florence Pugh set to play the ambitious social climber, but that project never came to fruition.