Constantine Levin Douglas Henshall Tolstoy based the character of Constantine Levin, the passionate and conflicted landowner, on himself. While Anna Karenina looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfilment through marriage, family, and hard work. He journeys to Moscow to propose to Kitty, who refuses him in anticipation of a proposal from Vronsky -- a proposal that never comes. Kitty and Levin are eventually reunited, marry, and have a son. Douglas Henshall, a fan of Russian literature, was thrilled to be offered the role of Levin. "Levin is like the voice of Leo Tolstoy. He's probably one of the first existentialists: someone who hides guns and ropes in the shed to take away the temptation to shoot or hang himself. It's only the idea of this one perfect woman -- Kitty -- that keeps him alive." Henshall has appeared in several British television productions as well as in films, including Angels and Insects (1995), Orphans (1997), and This Year's Love (1999). During the filming of Anna Karenina, he found himself identifying closely with Levin, but even he was mentally covering his eyes when Levin gives his bride-to-be the diaries chronicling all his previous sexual misadventures. "This is something that Tolstoy actually did himself," says Henshall. "But you can just see the articles in Cosmopolitan saying, 'Never, ever do this!' Levin wants there to be no secrets between him and Kitty, but it's just a terrible idea."