Emily Blunt is to star in 'Pain Hustlers'.

The 'Jungle Cruise' actress has signed on for the lead role in director David Yates' upcoming movie, in which she will play a struggling mother, whose new job embeds her into the centre of a criminal conspiracy.

The official logline for the movie reads: "Dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout, lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida.

"Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.

"In the vein of ‘The Big Short,’ ‘American Hustle’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘Pain Hustlers’ is a hilarious, dramatic and wild journey to the corrupt heart of the American dream.”

Wells Tower has penned the script for the film, which will begin production on 22 August, and Lawrence Grey will produce through his Grey Matter Productions along with Wychwood Pictures.

The 39-year-old actress previously explained she looks for roles that "move" her and embraces a "leap in the unknown", which was why she related to her 'Jungle Cruise alter ego, botanist Lily Houghton.

She previously said: "They give me food for thought. They make me think. I do want to play people for whatever reason, I feel I have an in with them, and it's really a theory as to why I think I have an in with them.

"So I don't think I'm nearly as adventurous-spirited as Lily is, but I do love the leap in the unknown. I really do. I love it about every choice I make. I just like to do stuff that moves me, so that hopeful spirit she has was close to home. I loved it. I understood it."