03/04/2008

Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren is all set to portray revered Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s wife Sofya Tolstoy in a biopic titled The Last Station. Christopher Plummer will play the War And Peace writer.

Earlier, Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins were to play the lead roles. The film deals with the turbulent last year of Tolstoy’s life and his difficult marriage.

Michael Hoffman, who is best known for Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream and period film Restoration, will direct the film that’s based on Jay Parini’s eponymous bestselling novel. Atonement [+see also:
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For Mirren, the film marks a return to her Russian heritage. She was born Illiana Lydia Petrovna Mironova to Russian aristocrat parents. She recently completed filming Love Ranch, opposite Joe Pesci and directed by her husband Taylor Hackford, about a married couple who opened the first legal brothel in Nevada.

Jens Meurer of Germany’s Egoli Tossel Film and Chris Curling from the UK’s Zephyr Films are producing the film. Most of the €13 million budget was raised from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the German Federal Film Board and the Federal Film Fund, and the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The film begins shooting in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Leipzig and Russian locations from April 7. Warner Brothers has picked up German domestic rights and will release the film in Germany early 2009.