Ralph Fiennes to direct Rudolf Nureyev film

British actor Ralph Fiennes is to direct a drama about Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, reports ScreenDaily.

Fiennes, who will not act in the film, has acquired rights to Julie Kavanagh’s authorised biography Nureyev: The Life, and is hoping to shoot in 2016. The drama, which is currently untitled, will be scripted by celebrated British playwright and screenwriter David Hare.

The film, which is being developed by BBC Films, is expected to focus on a particular episode of Nureyev’s turbulent and eventful life, but it is not known yet which. Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union to the West in Paris in 1961 while on a European tour with the Kirov Ballet. He had a long career with the Royal Ballet dancing opposite Margot Fonteyn before dying in 1993 aged 53 after contracting HIV.

This will be Fiennes’ third feature as director, having already helmed Coriolanus (2011) and The Invisible Woman (2013).