After the intense drama of playing Stephen Hawking and an artist going through a sex change, Eddie Redmayne is down to play a plucky caveman in a prehistoric comedy next.

The Oscar-winning star of The Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl has been cast in the Aardman​ animation Early Man, which is beginning production in the UK.

It is being directed by Nick Park, who is going behind the camera for the first time on a feature film since Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2006. He won an Oscar for it, his fourth after previous wins for the animated short films Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

Redmayne will voice Dug, a caveman who, along with sidekick Hognob, unites his tribe against the mighty Bronze Age in a battle to beat them at their own game – accidentally inventing the game of football.

The story is set "at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth".

"Not only is Eddie a joy to work with, his versatility and boundless energy have really helped to bring my new character to life," says Park. "He embodies the cheeky charm, fun and plucky wit of Dug and I'm sure he'll get along brilliantly with Dug's sidekick Hognob."

Redmayne, who will soon to be seen in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is the first voice actor to be revealed for the movie, which opens in March 2018.

Since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Park has been executive producer of Aardman's Shaun the Sheep Movie as well as the TV series Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time, Wallace and Gromit's World Of Invention and Creature Comforts America.