Keira Knightley and Jude Law cast in 'Anna Karenina'

Following Greta Garbo's version in 1935 and Sophie Marceau's portrayal in 1997, Keira Knightley will star in the latest adaptation of
Anna Karenina, it was announced September 8 in
The Hollywood Reporter.

Knightley joins Jude Law ( Sherlock Holmes) who will play her husband and Aaron Johnson ( Kick-Ass) will portray her young lover Count Vronsky in the epic romance.

The story, set in 19th century Russia, follows a woman in a loveless marriage who seeks love elsewhere only to complicate her life.

Director Joe Wright has previously worked with Knightley on Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, and also directed The Soloist and Hanna.

Renowned playwright Tom Stoppard, who wrote Brazil and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love in 1998, will adapt the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy for the screen.

Saoirse Ronan ( The Lovely Bones, Hanna), Matthew Macfadyen ( Pride & Prejudice), Oscar nominee Emily Watson, and Andrea Riseborough ( Made in Dagenham) also costar.

Knightley will appear in A Dangerous Method with Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and their relationship with a patient to be released November 23.

Jude Law will costar in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows with Robert Downey Jr., releasing December 16.

Anna Karenina will be released in the second half of 2012.

RC