Hollywood star Timothee Chalamet is to appear opposite British actress Dame Eileen Atkins in an adaptation of the critically acclaimed play 4,000 Miles.

Chalamet will star as 21-year-old Leo, who, after suffering a major loss during a summer bike riding trip, seeks solace in the New York home of his 91-year-old grandmother, Vera, who will be played by Dame Eileen.

4,000 Miles, written by Amy Herzog, will open at London’s The Old Vic in April 2020.

Timothee Chalamet
Timothee Chalamet will appear at The Old Vic in London in an adaptation of the play 4,000 Miles (Ian West/PA)

The Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus said: “Amy Herzog is one of my favourite living writers – she writes with a deceptively powerful simplicity, full of extraordinary grace, precision and radiance.

“I’m very much looking forward to working with this exceptional cast on her gorgeous play, which abounds with intimate beauty and truth.”

Oscar-nominated Chalamet, 23, is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after young actors and recently appeared in Netflix period drama The King.

Dame Eileen, 85, is a multi-award winning actress whose career spans seven decades.

Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen Atkins will star opposite Timothee Chalamet in 4,000 Miles at The Old Vic (Yui Mok/PA)

The billing for 4,000 Miles reads: “At the beginning of the summer 21-year-old Leo set out from the West Coast cycling across America with his best friend.

“After weeks of radio silence, no-one is more surprised than his 91-year-old grandmother, Vera, when Leo turns up on her Manhattan doorstep in the middle of the night.

“His life just starting, hers nearly ended, in a faded Greenwich Village apartment their griefs collide.”

4,000 Miles, which was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for drama, is set to open on April 16 2020, with previews from April 6.

It is part of Warchus’s season five, alongside productions of A Christmas Carol, Samuel Beckett plays Endgame and Rough For Theatre II, and Mark Knopfler’s musical Local Hero.