He’s on screen right now being a noseless douchebag to Harry Potter as always in The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, but Ralph Fiennes has aspirations beyond storming Hogwarts and destroying his mortal magical enemy – he’s looking to lock in his next directorial project. And it appears he’s settled on working from Claire Tomalin’s book about Charles Dickens’ secret love affair, The Invisible Woman.
Right now, it’s in the very early stages and the actor/director is now meeting with actresses about playing Ellen “Nelly” Ternan whose romance with the writer they kept secret for 13 years.
He has a wish list of talent for the role, one that includes the likes of Imogen Poots, Abbie Cornish and Felicity Jones, alongside the always-in-demand Carey Mulligan, whose busy schedule might make her unobtainable.
For his part, Fiennes has apparently decided to stay behind the camera this time around, despite thoughts that he might play Dickens himself. There’s no exact word on when he might crank the camera, but it appears he’s looking at filming next spring/summer, once he’s finished with another Dickens project – playing Magwich in Mike Newell’s G****reat Expectations.