London, Aug 7 (IANS): “House of Cards” star Kate Mara, who can currently be seen as Sue Storm in “Fantastic Four,” is set to topline in director Gabriela Cowperthwaite's film about real life Iraq war hero Megan Leavey.

Leavey and her military combat dog Rex saved countless lives searching for roadside bombs during two tours in Iraq from 2004 to 2006.

The movie, titled “Megan Leavey", is Cowperthwaite's follow-up to her acclaimed documentary film “Blackfish", which explored an incident surrounding the death of a SeaWorld trainer who was killed by an orca in 2010, reports variety.com.

“This is a side of war that we don't hear about. It is unbelievable what these two went through. It is an honor to be able to tell their story,” Cowperthwaite said.

She will direct from a script written by Pamela Gray (“Conviction”), with additional material by Annie Mumolo (“Joy”), Tim Lovestedt (“Groundlings”) and Jordan Roberts (“Big Hero 6").

The movie is based on the true story of Leavey, a young Marine who turned her life around by enlisting in the K9 unit. There, she was teamed with an aggressive combat dog named Rex. The pair formed a special bond and were deployed to Iraq as an elite bomb sniffing team. Together, they served two tours of duty and completed more than 100 missions, saving innumerable lives.

The film is produced by Mickey Liddell (“The Grey”), Jennifer Monroe (“Disconnect”) and Pete Shilaimon (“Anthropoid”) on behalf of LD Entertainment. Pre-production on the project has already begun and principal photography will start in October.