Dakota Fanning to star in Emma Thompson scripted period drama EFFIE

Dakota Fanning is set to star in the Victorian period drama Effie. Deadline reports that Fanning will will star in the title role in the Emma Thompson-scripted period biopic "about the unfortunate marriage between Euphemia Gray and the famed critic John Ruskin in 1850s London. Though the teenager was gorgeous, Effie's husband never consummated the marriage over five years because Ruskin was for some reason disgusted by her body. After suffering through a loveless marriage and browbeating by her in-laws, Effie fell in love with Ruskin's protégé, painter John Everett Millais."

The film is being directed by Richard Laxton (An Englishman in New York). Greg Wise will play Ruskin, and Tom Sturridge is starring as Millais. Thompson is also set to star as Lady Eastlake, "who takes Effie under her wing when it was clear the union was destroying the young woman." Ruskin's parents will be played by Julie Walters and Derek Jacobi, and Edward Fox is in talks to play Lady Eastlake's husband, Sir Charles Eastlake. Eastlake "was the main patron of the Royal Academy, which held sway over what constituted fine art. He was already fed up with Ruskin and his radical ideas before that love triangle rocked the art community."

Filming on Effie is slated to begin on Oct. 17 in Scotland, London and Venice. Don Rosenfeld and Andreas Roald are producing the film after raising the $10 million budget through private equity. Carey Mulligan and Saoirse Ronan have all been circling the Effie role at one point. The film was delayed when Gregory Murphy claimed copyright infringement regarding his play The Countess, which also probed the Ruskin marriage. The court case has now been settled.

Fanning, who is now 17, just wrapped the final two installments of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, so this will be a nice change of dramatic pace. It will be nice to see Fanning on screen again. What are your thoughts on this news?