Keira Knightley To Star In Anna Karenina The screenplay is being written by Tom Stoppard and the film’s being directed by Joe Wright , who helped make Keira a star. Stoppard’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s tear-jerking classic, about a married woman who becomes a social outcast when she has an affair with an aristocrat, was commissioned by London-based studio Working Title. Tragic heroine: Keira Knightley is first choice to play the lead in Tolstoy's tear-jerking classic Wright, who made Pride And Prejudice and Atonement , featuring two of Keira’s best performances, has talked with his number one leading lady about the idea of playing one of the most tragic heroines of 19th-century Russian literature. But no deals have been done and there’s some way to go before the picture is even given the official go-ahead. Tim Bevan, who runs Working Title with Eric Fellner, explained Stoppard’s screenplay is due before Christmas. ‘We’re developing a number of projects with Joe, and Ann