New Pics Of Keira Knightley, Aaron Johnson & Jude Law In Joe Wright's 'Anna Karenina'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
June 7, 2012 1:22 PM
11 Comments

By this point, we've seen at least something from pretty much every major movie 2012 has to offer. "The Hobbit"? Yep. "Django Unchained"? That hit yesterday. Hell, even "The Master" snuck out a clip and Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" launched a splashy trailer. But with a fall release date set for Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina," we haven't seen one peep except for a handful of images, and while we await some kind of footage, a few more pics have landed online.

As you already know, the adaptation of the classic novel reunites Wright with Keira Knightley and brings along a helluva cast, including Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, Ruth Wilson and Holliday Grainger to tell the story. But this isn't just your usual period pic. Yes, it will look lavish, but Wright has taken the unusual step of shooting the majority of his Russian epic on and around a single location, a run-down theater built from scratch at Shepperton Studios outside London. It promises to be both unique and dazzling and we really can't wait to see what the inventive filmmaker does with the material (and it should also be noted, the actors will be speaking in their native English accents, not in some kind of Russian inflected tone).

Until then, here are few more pics of the cast. "Anna Karenina" opens in the U.K. on September 7th and in the U.S. on November 9th, and we expect a full festival/awards run for this. [Kinopoisk]

"Anna Karenina"

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More: Anna Karenina, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Johnson

11 Comments

| Reply
ru | June 7, 2012 6:32 PMReply

my God! keira knighley AGAIN! stop ruin classic with this talentless twat, joe!
emb | June 8, 2012 12:11 AM

Yeah Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, those two critically acclaimed movies, were SO ruined. F.O. And they'll work together for many, many years to come, stay mad.
Genadijus | June 7, 2012 3:45 PMReply

Love Keira, hope she'll be nominated for an Oscar. She really deserves that kind of recognition!
kim | June 7, 2012 2:09 PMReply

Love Jude Law looking forward to this.
Victoria | June 7, 2012 1:45 PMReply

Why is it that whenever there's the need to cast a Russian female lead that it has to be Keira Knightley? Depressing and unoriginal.
Victoria | June 7, 2012 5:26 PM

Where would we be if stories weren't adapted across cultures? It's a beautiful thing. You're right that a Russian would be misplaced in a British cast. But maybe you're forgetting that a lot of Russian actors (also Mexican / Spanish / French / Brazilian...) might also happen to speak English very well. And might be able to do a killer British accent. Anyway, listen. You're missing the broader point. Like I said, the issue is deeper and has to do with with actors who have an inherent connection to a role not getting their due respect by being actually represented in that role. This was / is an issue with the TV show Glee, where a non-disabled actor was given a disabled role. I get that casting decisions are made for a variety of issues (mainly star exposure) but I do think it's worthy of a discussion. If you read carefully, I didn't criticize Keira Knightley. She's a fine actress, especially when she can step outside of her comfort zone. However I find her 'beautiful for the sake of being beautiful' facial expressions just painful most of the time. But anyway, I was criticizing the choice in actor. Not Knightley herself.
RME | June 7, 2012 5:07 PM

I'm going to guess you have no problem with people like Viggo Mortensen playing Russians, Austrians or what have you. Just Keira. Never mind that this is a BRITISH production with a 99% British cast. Would you prefer them to hire some Russian actress who sticks out with a bizarre accent among all the English accents? And please, Keira has played 3 Russian roles in the last TEN YEARS. Although I'm sure that's about 99% of all Russian roles that have existed and taken by her, right? These delusional requests to have an all-Russian cast in a British production are asinine. Stories have always been and always will be adapted into different languages and cultures. You need to get over it. But I'm sure your dislike for Keira will prevent that.
Victoria | June 7, 2012 2:28 PM

Actually, AD, this is the third time it's happened. The point is that it's tiring to see people drinking from the same well all of the time. Here's a novel idea. How about casting a Russian in the role?

This really gets to a bigger issue, which is that for various reasons, Hollywood will often cast a big name actor to portray someone rather than giving the role to someone who actually in whatever form embodies that character in real life. (Casting a Mexican in a Mexican role, a lesbian as a lesbian, a disabled person as a disabled person...) I get that it's a risk to do that because you want a "name" in the role, but sometimes the risk pays off in great and beautiful dividends. And it's really fun to see a new actor blossom on the scene.
d | June 7, 2012 1:51 PM

"Whenever?" It's happened twice.
AD | June 7, 2012 1:48 PM

Then don't watch it or comment! bye
Kathy | June 7, 2012 1:27 PMReply

Oh hi, those aren't new!