BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and "The English Patient" actor Ralph Fiennes have signed on to star in "The Reader", a love story based on Bernhard Schlink's best-seller, media reported Tuesday August 21st.
"The Reader" is set in postwar Germany and centers on Michael Berg, who is 15 years old when he begins a long, covert love affair with an older, mysterious woman Hanna in the wake of WWII. He never learns much about her, and when she vanishes one day, he expects never to see her again. But to his surprise, she reappears later as a defendant in a Nazi war crimes trial, and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime.
Stephen Daldry, who directed Kidman to Oscar glory in "The Hours," will helm the Nazi drama.
David Hare, screenwriter for "The Hours," is writing the script.
The shooting of the film is expected to begin next month in Germany.
Kidman can now be seen in science-fiction thriller "The Invasion," which earned an estimated 6 million U.S. dollars during its first weekend. She is also set to star and produce a Hollywood remake of Colombian horror flick "Al Final Del Espectro."
Fiennes is also in theaters, playing Lord Voldemort in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
