Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench are in talks to star in Italian Shoes for Left Bank Films and director Kenneth Branagh.

Richard Cottan is writing the script, which is adapted from Henning Mankell's novel. The plot centers on a retired surgeon, who has become a recluse on a private island in Sweden. The doctor must confront the mistakes of his past, when he is reunited with a former lover.

Production will start at the end of 2012 or early 2013, depending on when both actors are available.

Kenneth Branagh is also attached to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for Fox 2000 and The Boys in the Boat for The Weinstein Company. Those projects are still in early stages of development, so it's possible that Italian Shoes may be shot before The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Boys in the Boat.