Joe Wright

In developing his film adaptation of "Anna Karenina," the classic Tolstoy novel about a scandalous love triangle in Imperial Russia, director Joe Wright found himself donning his sleuthing cap. "It's kind of like detective work, trying to figure out the character," Wright says in this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series with the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Keegan. "You're pulling pieces together, and that's really exciting. " While Tolstoy's text provided an outline, it was up to Wright and his team to fill in the details.

Angry voters infamously shut down Congress' switchboard in 2007 to oppose immigration reform - an outburst that helped convince Republicans of the proposal's outsize political peril. As Congress debates immigration reform again this year, there are still a lot of angry people - at least if the vitriolic phone calls and faxes raining down on one Florida farmer are any gauge. Joe Wright was featured in a Los Angeles Times story and video in February about how business owners are becoming vocal supporters of immigration reform.

Truly, all the world's a stage in director Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina," a new adaptation of the Tolstoy classic about high-society scandal in 19th century Imperial Russia. In making the film, which stars Keira Knightley and Jude Law, Wright took the bold stylistic step of framing much of the story as a sort of meta-theatrical performance, with action taking place in a crumbling theater. In this excerpt from The Envelope Screening Series with the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Keegan, Wright discusses the inspiration for his approach to the film.

AVON PARK, Fla. -- A dairy operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There's always someone needed to herd and milk the cows, tend to sick animals and clean up after healthy ones. The work must be done in the heat of a Florida summer and the chill of the early morning hours. When the economy is strong, farmer Joe Wright says it's nearly impossible to fill jobs on a dairy. That's why he's a vocal supporter of immigration reform; he says he needs a steady supply of workers from overseas.

"Anna Karenina," director Joe Wright's startling new vision of the Tolstoy classic, is all dressed up with no place to go. Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the tale of passion and impropriety in Imperial Russian society, circa 1870, the production is bold, sumptuous, ambitious and yet bound by its own self-imposed conventions. In a rash move, Wright has confined most of the sweeping story to a single decaying theater. Literally all of Anna Karenina's world is that stage, its action unfolding in odd nooks and crannies of the ancient structure, much of it on catwalks and along backstage corridors.

In director Joe Wright's highly stylized adaptation of "Anna Karenina," dance serves as a metaphor for characters' passions and fears. In this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series on Thursday, Wright and his leading lady, Keira Knightley, explain the challenges of executing that vision. The most difficult sequence, Wright and Knightley agreed, was a dramatic ballroom scene staged by Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, involving Anna (Knightley), her paramour Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)

Filmmaker Joe Wright, whose movie credits include "Atonement," "Pride and Prejudice" and the upcoming "Anna Karenina" will make his stage directorial debut this coming season at the Donmar Warehouse in London, the company announced this week. Wright is to direct a revival production of "Trelawney of the Wells" by Arthur Wing Pinero, which is set to officially open on Feb. 25. The Donmar's season is also to feature an all-female staging of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," starring Harriet Walter and directed by Phyllida Lloyd; and a revival of Conor McPherson's "The Weir.

Director Joe Wright's vision for the Leo Tolstoy classic "Anna Karenina" has been called "bold," "daring" and "ambitious" - words that could also be used to describe the effect the director and his leading lady, Keira Knightley, have on each other. "Keira is quite fearless, and she encourages me to go to places I wouldn't necessarily be brave enough to go to myself," says Wright, who proceeded with the film only after Knightley, whom he'd directed to an Oscar nomination in 2005's "Pride and Prejudice," had agreed to take on the lead role.

Joe Wright, 37, one of the civil rights workers known as the "Wilmington 10" who were tried for violent acts during protests against racial injustice in Wilmington, N.C., schools. Wright was convicted of firebombing a grocery store in 1971 and shooting at people who tried to extinguish the fire. He served 2 1/2 years in prison before he was paroled June 1, 1978. The conviction was later overturned, and his criminal record was cleared last year.

The Leo Tolstoy classic "Anna Karenina" has seen its share of adaptations. In its latest turn, from director Joe Wright, the love story gets a bold, creative and visually beautiful reworking of the Russian tale with truly inventive costuming. Starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, Focus Features' film is strikingly original in its setting - the drama is staged on a decaying theater set - which gave Wright's longtime costume designer Jacqueline Durran, [who has been nominated for an Oscar for two previous projects with Wright, "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement"]

The Leo Tolstoy classic "Anna Karenina" has seen its share of adaptations. In its latest turn, from director Joe Wright, the love story gets a bold, creative and visually beautiful reworking of the Russian tale with truly inventive costuming. Starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, Focus Features' film is strikingly original in its setting - the drama is staged on a decaying theater set - which gave Wright's longtime costume designer Jacqueline Durran, [who has been nominated for an Oscar for two previous projects with Wright, "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement"]

Director Joe Wright's vision for the Leo Tolstoy classic "Anna Karenina" has been called "bold," "daring" and "ambitious" - words that could also be used to describe the effect the director and his leading lady, Keira Knightley, have on each other. "Keira is quite fearless, and she encourages me to go to places I wouldn't necessarily be brave enough to go to myself," says Wright, who proceeded with the film only after Knightley, whom he'd directed to an Oscar nomination in 2005's "Pride and Prejudice," had agreed to take on the lead role.

In developing his film adaptation of "Anna Karenina," the classic Tolstoy novel about a scandalous love triangle in Imperial Russia, director Joe Wright found himself donning his sleuthing cap. "It's kind of like detective work, trying to figure out the character," Wright says in this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series with the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Keegan. "You're pulling pieces together, and that's really exciting. " While Tolstoy's text provided an outline, it was up to Wright and his team to fill in the details.

Actress Keira Knightley and her latest character, Anna Karenina, go back a ways. Now 27, Knightley first read Tolstoy's classic novel about the young Russian princess when she was a teenager, and she recently got reacquainted with the character in preparation for Joe Wright's new film adaptation. As Knightley tells the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Keegan in this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series, she found Anna Karenina to be a much more complex character then she originally recalled.

Truly, all the world's a stage in director Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina," a new adaptation of the Tolstoy classic about high-society scandal in 19th century Imperial Russia. In making the film, which stars Keira Knightley and Jude Law, Wright took the bold stylistic step of framing much of the story as a sort of meta-theatrical performance, with action taking place in a crumbling theater. In this excerpt from The Envelope Screening Series with the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Keegan, Wright discusses the inspiration for his approach to the film.

In director Joe Wright's highly stylized adaptation of "Anna Karenina," dance serves as a metaphor for characters' passions and fears. In this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series on Thursday, Wright and his leading lady, Keira Knightley, explain the challenges of executing that vision. The most difficult sequence, Wright and Knightley agreed, was a dramatic ballroom scene staged by Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, involving Anna (Knightley), her paramour Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander is homeless these days. And that's fine with her. "I live out of my suitcase," she said. "It's only hotels and friends' couches. But if there is any time in life when it's OK to be rootless, it is probably now. " It's the 24-year-old actress' burgeoning film career that has lead to her vagabond existence. In the last two years, she's traveled to Denmark to star in the historical drama "A Royal Affair," which opens Friday, England for Joe Wright's expressionistic take on Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," hitting theaters on Nov. 16, Vancouver for the 2013 fantasy adventure "The Seventh Son," and back to Sweden for the independent drama "Hotell.

"Anna Karenina," director Joe Wright's startling new vision of the Tolstoy classic, is all dressed up with no place to go. Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the tale of passion and impropriety in Imperial Russian society, circa 1870, the production is bold, sumptuous, ambitious and yet bound by its own self-imposed conventions. In a rash move, Wright has confined most of the sweeping story to a single decaying theater. Literally all of Anna Karenina's world is that stage, its action unfolding in odd nooks and crannies of the ancient structure, much of it on catwalks and along backstage corridors.

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander is homeless these days. And that's fine with her. "I live out of my suitcase," she said. "It's only hotels and friends' couches. But if there is any time in life when it's OK to be rootless, it is probably now. " It's the 24-year-old actress' burgeoning film career that has lead to her vagabond existence. In the last two years, she's traveled to Denmark to star in the historical drama "A Royal Affair," which opens Friday, England for Joe Wright's expressionistic take on Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," hitting theaters on Nov. 16, Vancouver for the 2013 fantasy adventure "The Seventh Son," and back to Sweden for the independent drama "Hotell.