What do you think of the cast of the new Anna Karenina film?

[Brett Cottrell]

Hopefully they'll be better at the end than Tolstoy. Anna Karenina was about as perfect as a novel can be, until the last 50 pages.

[kelby_lake]

Hopefully they'll be better at the end than Tolstoy. Anna Karenina was about as perfect as a novel can be, until the last 50 pages.

I imagine the film will remove most, if not all of the Levin parts. I can understand why as although I love them in the novel and would hope to see them included in a TV mini-series, it would be hard to convey in a film.

[joelavine]

Henry Ian Cusick as Levin please.

[kelby_lake]

Well, pictures are up!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781769/

Could they have made Vronsky look any less appealing? He looks like he should be a Scandinavian boyband member.

[JBI]

Seriously, they should at least have actors cast for their likeness to the roles - Knightley is so British, and post-modern that I think it will be a punishment to see. IT seems every now and then a British team comes by with an idea of how to ruin a Russian classic - this one looks like it will be the next Onegin.

[kelby_lake]

The worst is Aaron Johnson. He just looks so unappealing.

[kelby_lake]

agreed. And added: making money off classics is the occupation low.

I don't mind the idea of adapting it. I really enjoyed the Garbo Karenina, even if it was just a vehicle for her. Nevertheless, if you are going to adapt Anna Karenina, you have some duty to at least faintly resemble the novel!

By making Vronsky too young, it just looks ridiculous.

[cyberbob]

Aaron Johnson is a young up and coming British star, and in the end Hollywood runs on star power so this is not surprising.

[kelby_lake]

Aaron Johnson is a young up and coming British star, and in the end Hollywood runs on star power so this is not surprising.

There's probably quite a few "up-and-coming" British actors.They can sell the film on Keira Knightly and Jude Law's names alone. Besides, the styling is what is so poor, not just the fact that he looks too young. Vrosnky's supposed to be younger than Karenin but he's still supposed to look like a man.

[Desolation]

The trailer's just been released...
Anna Karenina Trailer

I think it looks pretty phenomenal...Much better than the new Gatsby movie.

[kelby_lake]

I'm hopeful for Jude Law.

[aj47]

.....

[kelby_lake]

I think Keira Knightley is a little too young. Anna is supposed to be around the same age as Dolly and Oblonsky, right? Like in their early 30's, and Keira still looks about 19 sometimes. I can't really picture her as a mother.

I think Anna is meant to be in her late-twenties. She married young so Karenin seeped the life out of her a bit. Sophie Marceau in the 1997 film was a good choice, as she looked young but looked like a woman rather than a girl. It's important that Anna looks like a woman because Kitty is meant to look young and a girl compared to Anna's womanliness.

[aj47]

.....

[kelby_lake]

I don't think the age difference between Keira Knightley and the actress playing Kitty is great enough to really get that idea across (or to show how Kitty admires and kind of looks up to Anna) she still looks a little more girl than woman.

Kitty was going to be played by Saoirse Ronan, which would have worked much better. She could be played by someone younger than 19, especially as Keira's still young.