Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence vying for Lie Down in Darkness role

Kristen Stewart is going head-to-head with The Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence to land the lead role in an upcoming movie adaptation of acclaimed author William Styron's first novel.

Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper has been tapped to turn 1951 book Lie Down in Darkness into a big screen project and both Stewart and Lawrence are desperate to be cast as the troubled main character, Peyton Loftis, a psychologically vulnerable woman who struggles to deal with her dysfunctional family in 1950s Virginia.

Production on the dark film isn't due to begin until next year (13), and the two actresses have been public about their desire to portray Loftis.

Twilight star Stewart recently told Elle magazine, "I want to play Peyton more than anything I can possibly taste or touch in my life. I want to play her so bad. They're the most f**ked-up family. There's a script adaptation... and it's good. Two people vying for the part (of the father) are Daniel Day-Lewis and Colin Firth. Daniel would be perfect."

Meanwhile, Lawrence has personally reached out to Cooper to convince him that she's the right girl for the role.

She tells W magazine, "I am obsessed with that part. I have this feeling of protectiveness over characters I want to play... If someone else gets the part, I'm afraid they won't do it right. I'm trying to write the director... to convince him that I should be in his movie. I'll chase him if I have to. I'll sit outside his house."