OK, someone call the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences now, because they're going to need to order some extra Oscars. That's because Nicole Kidman and Ralph Fiennes has signed up to star in The Reader, based on a much acclaimed bestseller by German writer Bernhard Schlink, with Stephen Daldry directing, playwright David Hare adapting and Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack's Mirage Productions producing.
The story's set just after World War II in Germany, where a 15 year-old called Michael develops a long and obsessive affair with an enigmatic older woman called Hanna (we're guessing Kidman). He never learns much about her, and after she disappears one day he doesn't see her again for a long time - until he meets her again in the most unwelcome of circumstances. It's not entirely clear who Fiennes will be playing - from what we know of the book there's a contemporary framing device, which Fiennes would be too young for without make-up, and he's clearly too old to play Michael at the time of the affair.
The book was the first ever German novel to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and brings in themes about post-War Germany that we won't go into here for fear of spoilers (but a quick look at Amazon will sort you out if you're interested).
The whole project's something of a reunion for those involved - Daldry, Hare, Kidman and producer Scott Rudin all worked on **The Hours **together, and Kidman also worked with producer Anthony Minghella on Cold Mountain and producer Sydney Pollack on The Interpreter. Fiennes, of course, also worked with Minghella on The English Patient.
Assuming all involved are on form, and that shooting proceeds relatively briskly once it gets underway in Berlin in September, should we just call off all bets on the 2009 Academy Awards now?