Russian Ark director Alexander Sokurov, whose next film project, Faust, is set to film in Iceland, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Vatican, casts Hannah Schygulla, best known for her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

The latest news comes to us from Sokurov's producer Andrey Sigle via Komsomolskaya Pravda, happily confirming the rumor—apparently "a dream come true" for the German icon and Fassbinder favorite Hannah Schygulla (The Marriage of Maria Brau, Lili Marleen).

Faust is the fourth and last installment to Sokurov's directorial tetralogy on the darker traits of humanity and corruption by power, previously seen through Hitler in Moloch (1999), Lenin in Taurus (2000), and Emperor Hirohit in The Sun (2004). Faust, influenced by the classic tale of the man who makes a deal with the devil and works by Goethe and Thomas Mann, begins production in the Czech Republic in August, continuing on to Germany, Iceland and possibly the Vatican with a 10.9 million dollar budget and Putin's fervent blessing.

Icelandic actor Sigurdur Skulason (The Sea, Children, Astropia) is also signed on to the project, along with Russian actor Leonid Mozgovoy who had previously played Hitler in Sokurov's Moloch.

[Twitch]
[ Komsomolskaya Pravda]

Image: Hannah Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun, 1979