With her phenomenal new film Clouds Of Sils Maria entering American theaters at long last, Juliette Binoche has been enjoying one of her regular tidal waves of critical adoration. They crest every couple of years or so, growing in the wake of one of her many masterful performances in recent releases, such as Certified Copy and Camille Claudel 1915. Binoche is a European treasure, and a new film announced today on Variety sounds like a fertile breeding ground for another classic performance from the actress.

With Pearl, Binoche will take on the role of Pearl S. Buck, celebrated novelist and missionary. Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938, “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.” Her 1931 novel The Good Earth, an account of lower-class toiling in her native China (Buck was born to Presbyterian missionaries who raised her abroad), won her the Pulitzer Prize. She wrote humane, profound prose up until her death in 1973 at age 80. 

Pearl will see Roxanne Messina Captor in the director’s chair, with the great Vilmos Zsigmond signed on as cinematographer. The biopic will take place “following the Nanking Incident in 1927, which launched the struggle known as the ‘Ten Years Civil War’ between Communists and Nationalists.” During that period, political turmoil forced Buck to flee Nanking, and then ultimately China entirely. She still considered China her home, and her years spent there had a huge influence on her writing.

There’s a lot of talent on the table here. Binoche could make a five-course meal out of a role like this, and Zsigmond will be sure to capture her eternal beauty. Production isn’t scheduled to commence until 2016, so, is it technically too early to begin my “Juliette Binoche for All the Awards” push?