Andrea Riseborough in ‘Too Leslie’

Award-winning German actor August Diehl and Oscar-nominated British actress Andrea Riseborough are set to play iconic composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his wife Nina in the upcoming biographical drama ‘The Noise of Time’.

According to hollywood reporterBased on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Julian Barnes, the film will be directed by acclaimed Polish director Jan Komsa, while the screenplay will be written by two-time Oscar-winning writer Christopher Hampton.

Diehl, known for her roles in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘A Hidden Life’, will embody the complex personality of Shostakovich, while Riseborough, known for her performances in ‘Birdman’ and ‘Too Leslie’, will play Nina . Shostakovich’s wife.’

‘The Noise of Time’ will be based on Shostakovich’s tumultuous life, starting in 1936, when the composer first faced the wrath of Stalin’s regime for his allegedly counter-revolutionary opera. Despite escaping execution, Shostakovich struggled with the pressures of being a cultural figure. The Soviet regime, while attempting to preserve the integrity of its music.

The project is backed by esteemed producers including Zero One Film’s Thomas Koufus, Aurum Film’s Leszek Bodzak and Anita Hickinbotham, and London-based Wildgaze Films’ Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey. Production is scheduled to begin in early 2025.

In addition to Diehl and Riseborough, the cast includes notable talents such as Domhnall Gleeson, who starred alongside Riseborough in the limited series ‘Alice & Jack’. Diehl himself is set to appear in other projects such as ‘Disappearance’, where he plays Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, and ‘The Master and Margarita’, a literary adaptation.