A few months ago,we reported that Ralph Fiennes had a shortlist of actresses in mind for his sophomore directing effort, The Invisible Woman. News on the project has been rather quiet as of late, but we now have confirmation of the female lead, thanks to The Daily Mail (via ThePlaylist). As they tell us, Like Crazy star Felicity Jones will play Ellen Ternan, a woman who had a hugely controversial affair with the great Charles Dickens for over 13 years, despite the fact he was married — and some 27 years her senior.
Jones — who also recently grabbed the female lead in Warren Beatty‘s long-gestating Howard Hughes biopic — is very much a star on the rise. She beat off competition from such talented actresses as Carey Mulligan (her Northanger Abbey co-star), Abbie Cornish and Imogen Poots, a sign that she has a lot to offer, and this role will certainly demand a lot itself. The film will be an adaptation of Claire Tomalin‘s non-fiction book of the same name, and Abi Morgan (Shame, The Iron Lady) is writing the script; that should be taken as a good sign.
The big reveal still to come is who gets the Dickens part. Fiennes has ruled out playing the author himself, and there are virtually no rumors circling about who might. Whoever is eventually picked will need to be exceptionally versatile if he is to step into the man’s shoes, seeing as he was as unique a personality as he was a writer.
A release date is some way off at the moment — expect late 2013 at the very earliest. In the meantime, Fiennes‘ first film as director, the Shakespeare adaptation Coriolanus, got a limited release yesterday and will release wide on January 20th, 2012. You can check out our (positive) review here.
Do you think Felicity Jones is a good choice for the role of Ellen Ternan? Do you think Fiennes has what it takes to make this a good film?