Although strongly linked with the role (she had singing lessons and sang for Mackintosh), Keira was never officially offered the part. She is believed to have felt that the project was taking too long to get off the ground.

The Talking Cure, based on the Christopher Hampton play of the same name, will star Knightley as Sabina Spielrein, a Russian-Jewish psychiatric patient, who is said to have inspired some of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud’s most remarkable discoveries. Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender – who both featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds – are set to co-star, with Waltz as Freud, and Fassbender as Jung.

The unconfirmed Playlist report was triggered by a Facebook update by Australian distributor Hopscotch Films, suggesting that it had picked up rights to the film.