Ansel Elgort is slated the lead in the adaptation of ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt

The film adaptation of Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch� has found its Theo: the lead role in the movie has been offered to “Baby Driver� star Ansel Elgort, Variety reports.

Speculation about the cast of “The Goldfinch� has been rampant since 2104, when Warner Bros. bought the film rights.

“The Goldfinch� became a literary phenomenon when it was published in 2013. The novel tells the story of Theo Decker, whose mother is killed by a terrorist’s bomb at an art museum. Theo survives the attack and leaves the museum with a small painting — of a goldfinch — by 17th-century Dutch artist Carel Fabritius. He secretly keeps the painting as he grows up and moves to Park Avenue in New York with a wealthy family, to Las Vegas, where he lives with his deceptive father, and then on to Europe.

Tartt spent more than a decade working on the novel, which garnered rave reviews from critics and won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

That year, Peter Straughan (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy�) was announced as the screenwriter for the film adaptation of the novel. The film will be co-financed by Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios.

Elgort gained national attention for his performance in this year’s hit “Baby Driver,� but he’s no stranger to film adaptations of literary works. He starred in the 2014 movie “The Fault in Our Stars,� based on John Green’s young adult novel, and in a series of films based on Veronica Roth’s “Divergent� trilogy.

The offer to Elgort was extended by John Crowley, who was announced as the film’s director in July. Crowley is best known for another literary film adaptation; his movie “Brooklyn,� written by Nick Hornby and based on a novel by Colm Tóibín, was released in 2015.

No other cast members have been announced for the “Goldfinch� project, which is scheduled to go into production next year.