Keira Knightley reteams with 'Atonement' director for 'Anna Karenina'

Keira Knightley

Credit: AP Photo

Keira Knightley and director Joe Wright are reuniting for an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" for Working Title Films.

Knightley, who starred in Wright's "Atonement" and received an Oscar nom for her work in his debut film "Pride & Prejudice," will star as the title character alongside Jude Law and Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass").

The cast also includes Kelly Macdonald ("Boardwalk Empire"), Matthew Macfadyen ("Pride & Prejudice"), Domhnall Gleeson ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"), Alicia Vikander ("The Seventh Son"), Emily Watson ("Punch-Drunk Love") and Olivia Williams ("Hanna").
 
Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard ("Shakespeare in Love') is adapting the epic classic book, about a late-19th-century Russian upper class woman (Knightley) and her lovers.

Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing with Paul Webster.

"Joe Wright is a master filmmaker, and with Tom Stoppard’s brilliant screenplay this Anna Karenina will be full of both pageantry and emotion," Focus Features CEO James Schamus said in a release. "To realize Joe’s vision, we have the perfect producing partners in Working Title and Paul Webster, whose acumen is unsurpassed. With Keira Knightley playing this iconic role and a splendid cast supporting her, today’s moviegoers will be drawn to this powerful story."
 
Bevan commented, "Everyone at Working Title is proud to affirm a longtime collaboration with Joe Wright through this, our fourth picture together. That we are able to re-convene cast and crew from 'Pride & Prejudice' and 'Atonement' makes it all the more exciting. We anticipate that this will be a defining screen version of 'Anna Karenina.'"

Knightley will soon be seen in David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method." Wright's most recent film was "Hanna," starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana.

Dave Lewis
Producer

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Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.