Oscar-winner Helen Mirren is to star in a film about a married couple running a brothel in Nevada, with the veteran British actress's husband Taylor Hackford directing, it was reported Monday.

Mirren, who scooped the best actress prize at this year's Academy Awards for her performance in "The Queen", will play opposite another Oscar-winner, Joe Pesci, in the movie "Love Ranch", Daily Variety reported.

The film is based on the couple who opened the first legal brothel in Nevada and the violence that followed as their relationship buckled under infidelity.

Hackford, who recently directed the Ray Charles biopic "Ray", said the film is inspired by the story of brothel owners Joe and Sally Conforte, who ran the legendary Mustang Ranch, outside of Reno.

The notorious vice den made headlines in 1976 when Argentine heavyweight boxer Oscar Bonavena was shot dead by a bodyguard at the brothel.

The film will be the first time Hackford has worked with his wife Mirren since 1985's "White Nights".

"I've developed this project for a long time and one of the things that excited me most was the chance to work again with my wife," Hackford told Variety. "I had to beg; she's a very busy girl. We'd wanted to work together for some time but she wouldn't agree unless it was a great role, and this is a great role," he added.

The film will be the first major role for Pesci in nearly a decade. The 64-year-old star of "Goodfellas" and "Casino" has not appeared in a leading film role since 1998's "Lethal Weapon 4".