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'War and Peace' will be adapted as a BBC miniseries

The miniseries of 'War and Peace' is expected to air in the UK in 2015.

'War and Peace' is by Leo Tolstoy.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

The BBC, the Weinstein Company, and production company Lookout Point are teaming up to produce a TV miniseries adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “War and Peace,” according to Deadline.

Lookout Point was behind other miniseries such as this year’s “Parade’s End." "War and Peace" will air in six parts and will be written by Andrew Davies, who wrote for the British 1990 version of the miniseries “House of Cards” as well as the 1995 miniseries adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” among other credits.

 “Needless to say, adapting 'War And Peace' is a tremendous but exciting task,” Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said in a statement. “There’s no one I’d rather be partnering with than Lookout Point’s Simon Vaughan and the BBC’s Ben Stephenson and Faith Penhale on this production, whose incredible visions are second to none in bringing classic literature to the screen in the most sophisticated way possible.”

The series is expected to air in the UK in 2015.

Davies uttered what Austen fans may consider fighting words when he said in a statement, “The characters are so natural and human and easy to identify with and Natasha Rostova just beats Lizzy Bennet as the most lovable heroine in literature.”

According to Deadline, Davies wants an unknown actress to take on the part of Natasha.

 “War and Peace” has been adapted several times before on both big and small screens, including a film version released in 1956 starring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda, a 1972 miniseries starring Anthony Hopkins, and as a 2007 miniseries starring “Harry Potter” actress Clémence Poésy and Malcolm McDowell.

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