If you were wondering whether Ralph Fiennes' **Coriolanus *was a brief flirtation with filmmaking *or the beginning of a career behind the camera, The Invisible Woman should answer that question. Fiennes' second directorial gig is now up and running, with cast and crew scheduled for ten weeks shooting in Kent and London.
Adapted from Claire Tomalin's biography by writer-of-the-moment Abi Morgan (Shame), it has Felicity Jones in the title role. She'll play Nelly Ternan, dubbed 'the Invisible Woman' not for her stash of bandages and invisibility cloak but for conducting a secret affair with Charles Dickens (Fiennes) for more than a decade.
As the official synopsis outlines: "Nelly, a happily married mother and school teacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories take us back in time to follow the story of her relationship with Charles Dickens with whom she discovered an exciting but fragile complicity.
"Dickens - famous, controlling and emotionally isolated within his success - falls for Nelly, who comes from a family of actors. As Nelly becomes the focus of Dickens' passion and his muse, for both of them secrecy is the price, and for Nelly a life of 'invisibility'."
It's a double dose of Dickens for Fiennes, who also plays Magwitch in Mike Newell's upcoming Great Expectations. He's recruited old** English Patient **pal Kristin Scott Thomas to play Nelly's mother and Tom Hollander will be donning the top hat and tails of Dickens' friend, confidant and fellow novelist, Wilkie Collins. Coriolanus distributors Lionsgate will get the film onto UK cinema screens.