KEIRA KNIGHTLEY AS ANNA KARENINA

 

Keira Knightley has been confirmed to star as Anna Karenina in a British film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 19th century novel. Jude Law has landed the role of Karenina's husband Aleksei Karenin in the movie, which will be penned by Oscar-winning writer Tom Stoppard, reports BBC News.

The realist fiction classic is split into eight parts and follows Anna, a married Russian woman who has an affair with a younger soldier.

It will be the third time Knightley has worked with director Joe Wright, after starring in his 2005 film Pride And Prejudice and 2008's Atonement.

There have been several film adaptations of Tolstoy's novel, with Vivien Leigh (1948), Greta Garbo (1935) and Sophie Marceau (1997) among the stars who have taken the lead role