Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are teaming up with director Tim Burton for his latest project, Big Eyes. The film tells the story of real-life artist husband and wife team, Walter and Margaret Keane, and the struggles their marriage went through as a result of Walter taking credit for Margaret’s work.

Big Eyes
Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams take the lead roles in Tim Burton's Big Eyes

Margaret’s staple style of painting was that of kitsch doe-eyed waifs which became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s and made her husband a national celebrity after he mass produced the paintings and claimed the design as his own.

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Adams and Waltz will take on the roles of the husband and wife pair and depict their journey through happily married popularity into their contentious court divorce proceedings.

Amy Adams told USA Today: "Margaret really believed that as a woman, people would not buy her art. Walter convinced her the life they were able to lead was because the artist was a man, who could sell more art at a higher price than a woman."

Eventually, Margaret took charges against Walter to a federal court in 1986. There, the judge demanded the two face a ‘paint-off’ with both having to tackle a doe-eyed waif drawing in order to claim ownership. Walter cried off with a shoulder injury. Margaret finished her painting in 53 minutes and won $4million in damages. 

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Adams told USA Today: "This all seems so theatrical, like something you would design for a film. But that actually happened... [and] she won her name back."

Amy Adams in Big Eyes
Amy Adams will play artist Margaret Keane in Big Eyes

The script has been penned by the same writers that took on Burton’s film Ed Wood, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who were also originally intended to direct with Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds taking the leads. However, with Burton on board, Alexander and Karaszewski were moved to scriptwriters and the actors were changed.

The film is due for release in the US on 25 December and has been positioned perfectly by distributor, The Weinstein Company, to hit awards season hard.

Let’s just hope Adams’ eyes are big enough to win an Oscar jackpot.