Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, et al. Set for Effie Movie

Derek Jacobi and Julie Walters have been cast in Effie, according to a report on Deadline.com. Richard Laxton is directing the project, which has a screenplay by Emma Thompson.

The movie centers on the true story about the unfortunate marriage between Euphemia “Effie” Gray (to be played by Dakota Fanning) and the famed critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise) in 1850s London. Jacobi and Walters are set to play Ruskin’s parents. The film will also feature Thompson as a friend of Effie’s and Tom Sturridge, as John Everet Maillais, a painter with whom Effie falls in love.

Jacobi’s many theater credits his Tony Award-winning performance in Much Ado About Nothing, as well as Twelfth Night, Uncle Vanya, Breaking the Code, Cyrano de Bergarac, The Suicide, and King Lear. His many film and stage credits include The Borgias, The King’s Speech, and I, Claudius.

Walters’ stage credits include Educating Rita, Jumpers, When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune. On screen she has appeared in Mamma Mia!, Ahead of the Class and the Harry Potter movies.