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Kate Winslet is closing in on her dream project, and she wants it to be a 'dangerous exploration of adultery and sex'.

The Oscar-nominated actress wants to turn Therese Raquin, Emile Zola's 19th-century tale of lust and murder, into a modern-day look at forbidden love.

'This is a tale of true passion,' Kate told me.

'A married woman is in love with another man and together they plot to kill the husband. It's passion that drives them to it,' she said.

'You can make the story much more accessible if it's updated and made modern,' she added.

Director David Leveaux has worked on several drafts of the script, updating Zola's explosive tale.

Kate herself has been closely involved as an executive producer. Husband Jim Threapleton will also work on the film, through their production company Ultra Films.

'It's definitely going to happen at the end of the year,' Kate said.

'We pushed it back because we didn't know what was going to happen with the proposed actors' strike in American. It may not happen, but we couldn't take the chance.

'I have wanted Therese Raquin to happen for a long time and there are various parties working to ensure that it does,' she told me on the set of Iris, the film about author Iris Murdoch which also stars Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent. Kate will play the younger Iris in the movie

'I want to do good roles, whether they're leading roles or supporting roles,' she said. 'Geoffrey Rush was the lead in Quills and there's no way you could call my part the lead - but I was happy to do it,' she said. She and Rush will be working together again in The Magician's Wife, and this time they will share top billing.

Kate can be seen next opposite Dougray Scott in Michael Apted's movie Enigma, when it's released in the UK in the autumn.

Source: The Daily Mail (transcribed by emonster)