Clearly spending time nearly getting blown up in From Paris with Love hasn’t turned Jonathan Rhys-Meyers off to all things French, though for his next European adventure, he’s sticking with something a little more romantic, if still dangerous. The actor has signed on to the lead role in the adaptation of Albert Cohen’s novel Belle Du Seigneur.
Glenio Bonder is behind the camera for the first time, directing the tale of a Jewish diplomat (Rhys-Meyers) who falls for, and starts an affair with, a married Swiss woman as World War Two kicks off. And his love interest? Model Natalia Vodianova, last seen in monstrous form providing the performance for Medusa in Clash of the Titans.
Marianne Faithfull has also signed on to the movie, which has been co-written by James Dearden (no stranger to forbidden lust after his work on Fatal Attraction) and Life is Beautiful’s Vincenzo Cerami. French novelist Cohen’s work has been the subject of several adaptation attempts before, with Olivier Martinez and Ludivine Sagnier rumoured for the leads, but the film never quite worked out.
Bonder, best know for commercials work, will be hoping he has more luck when he kicks off shooting later next month in Geneva.