Fiennes sets cast for Coriolanus

Fiennes first played Shakespeare's Coriolanus in the West End in 2000

Actor Ralph Fiennes has signed A-list stars Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt for his directorial debut, Coriolanus.

The film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's study of how power corrupts, with Fiennes as the lead.

The movie is due to start shooting in Belgrade next year, with a script by Gladiator and The Last Samurai writer John Logan.

"People who have read [it] think it's a page-turner," said Fiennes. "I want it to be an edge-of-the-seat film."

The actor, who was Oscar-nominated for his roles in The English Patient and Schindler's List, said he wanted to make Shakespeare accessible, citing Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet as an influence.

"I don't want it to be in that Shakespeare voice that puts you off," he told trade paper Screen International at the Cannes Films Festival.

"Audiences want to hear Shakespeare and they understand more than they think they are going to. The second film I ever saw was Olivier's Henry V when I was nine years old and I loved it."

Redgrave will take the role of Coriolanus' mother Volumnia, while newcomer plays his wife Virgilia.

Inglourious premiere

Other film announcements made in Cannes over the last 24 hours include:

Marion Cotillard won an Oscar for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in 2008

• Liam Neeson and Jennifer Connelly will star in What's Wrong With Virginia, a drama about a love affair between a psychologically disturbed woman and a candidate for the US Senate.

• Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard is to take the lead role in tragicomedy Les Petits Mouchoirs, from Tell No One director Guillaume Canet.

• Sam Riley, who won plaudits for his portrayal of Ian Curtis in Joy Division biopic Control, will star in an adaptation of Graham Greene's classic novel Brighton Rock.

• Frost/Nixon's Michael Sheen and Bourne Ultimatum star Paddy Considine will appear in coming-of-age comedy Submarine. The film marks the directorial debut of comedian Richard Ayoade - better known as Moss in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd.

• Milla Jovovich has signed on to star opposite Edward Norton and Robert DeNiro in psychological thriller Stone.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are rumoured to have flown in to the Riviera for Sunday's premiere of Inglourious Basterds.

Quentin Tarintino's World War II ensemble drama stars Pitt alongside Samuel L Jackson and Mike Myers.

It is one of 20 films in the running for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, which will be awarded on Sunday, 24 May.