Tobey Maguire, perhaps best known for his role as Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man film trilogy has been taped to star in and to produce the post-apocalyptic drama Z for Zachariah, which Compliance (opening Friday) helmer Craig Zobel will direct.

Based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien and adapted by Nissar Modi, the film will star Maguire as a rugged scientist with a dark past.

Modi’s 2009 Black List script follows a teenage girl, Ann Burden, who lives alone and maintains a farm in the only valley with breathable air in the wake of nuclear war; her world is turned upside down when two strangers wander in from the forest.

Maguire recently shot Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby in Australia and he will soon be seen in The Weinstein’s long-delayed dark comedy The Details; Maguire is currently filming a key role in...