JULIAN FELLOWES - DIRECTORIAL DEBUT FOR FELLOWES

OSCAR-winning screenwriter JULIAN FELLOWES has recruited the help of Brit stars TOM WILKINSON and EMILY WATSON for his directorial debut.

A WAY THROUGH THE WOODS, which is loosely based on NIGEL BALCHIN's novel of the same name, goes into production in September (03).

Wilkinson and Watson play a married couple whose lives are complicated when a third party enters the picture.

Fellowes - who won an ACADEMY AWARD for his writing work on GOSFORD PARK last year (02) - says, "It's a triangle about people who should be happy but aren't, people who have everything society deems will give you a fulfilled life, yet they are unfulfilled.

"The central plot theme is how, in a split second, you make a bad decision, and from that spreads an endless seam of mistakes, and it's impossible to go back and correct it."