Wallander man Kenneth Branagh just can’t stay away from European source material for his projects. He’s been developing Swedish novel adaptation Italian Shoes for a while now, and has kicked off talks with Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins to tackle the lead roles.
Shoes, which has been adapted from Henning Mankell’s book by Richard Cottan, finds a retired surgeon living a quiet life on a remote Swedish island, only to have his past come back to haunt him when he meets up with an old flame. Soon, the revelations are flying….
It sounds like ripe material for all three to get their teeth into, and you won’t be surprised to learn that the director had the acting pair in mind when he was overseeing the project. "The nuance, delicacy and flavour is so based on the perfect casting," he tells Variety. And he’s got plenty of experience working with them both, particularly Dench.
The only sticking point is the actors’ schedule – they’ll both have to be available at the same time, which means the film will likely shoot in either late 2012 or early 2013.
Still, Branagh has other movies squatting on his To Do list, including The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, which features a Don Roos script, and The Boys In The Boat, which doesn’t seem to have a screenplay yet.
Dench (and Branagh, for that matter) will be seen in this week’s My Week With Marilyn, before cropping up in J. Edgar. Hopkins was last seen in Thor and has Arabian Nights on his future schedule.