"The One I Love" director Charlie McDowell is helming the film, said The Hollywood Reporter.
McDowell and Justin Lader, who co-wrote The One I Love together, have reunited to write The Discovery.
Hoult, 25, plays the son of the man responsible for this discovery, and Mara, 30, plays a woman he falls in love with whose life is tinged by a tragic past.
Shooting is slated for January in Rhode Island.