Mirren, Plummer, Giamatti, McAvoy. THE LAST STATION!

Filming one week from today in Germany will be The Last Station, a drama that will explore the turbulent final year in the life of the Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolostoy and his troubled marriage to his wife Sofia. Christopher Plummer (as Tolostoy) and Helen Mirren (as his wife) will topline the film replacing the previously cast Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep. I think that's a swap we can all live with, don't you? Also in the film are James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti. Michael Hoffman is behind the camera. He once directed an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Giamatti plays Tolstoy's trusted follower Chertkov, a supporter of the writer's nonviolent socialist Christian movement who becomes Sofia's cunning adversary, while McAvoy plays a naive private secretary sent by Chertkov to work for Tolstoy. British actress Anne-Marie Duff, who is married to McAvoy, stars as Tolstoy's daughter Sasha.

The $20 million Warner Bros. film is based on a 1990 book by Jay Parini. Plummer as Tolostoy sounds a little more fitting to me. There's no doubt this going to be a terrifically acted movie and with the presence of a director who adapted Shakespeare pretty well (not an easy task), this could be a must see film when it opens next year. No word on a U.S. or U.K. release but if it's being shot in the English language, I can't imagine they would roll it out in Germany alone. source - variety