Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald have been signed on to star in Joe Wright’s upcoming film “Anna Karenina”, according to CinemaBlend.

“Kelly Macdonald’s confirmed, Benedict Cumberbatch is confirmed,” Wright told The Playlist. “I’m still waiting on Saorise [Ronan] and James [McAvoy].” Also signed onto “Anna Karenina” is Jude Law, Aaron Johnson and Keira Knightley.

Cumberbatch and Macdonald have proven time and again that they are the actors to go to for period dramas. Cumberbatch has acted in “The Other Boleyn Girl,” “Atonement” (in which he, Ronan and McAvoy were also directed by Wright), “Amazing Grace”, and the upcoming “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, among others (of course, quite a few people know him from his breakout television role as Sherlock Holmes in “Sherlock”). Macdonald has starred in “No Country for Old Men”, “Finding Neverland”, and is also providing her voice to the upcoming Pixar film “Brave”.

Wright’s recent work, “Hanna”, also starring Ronan as well as Cate Blanchett, will be in theaters April 8. The film tells the story of a teenage girl (Ronan) trained by her father to be an elite assassin and released on mission throughout Europe, all the while being tracked down by an intelligence agent (Blanchett) and her team.

Kelly Macdonald