Monday
19May2008
New 'King Lear' to Star Hopkins, Paltrow, and Knightley
Monday, May 19, 2008 at 1:22PM
Shakespeare's coming back, kids, but it's not another
retread of Hamlet or Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet.
King Lear, one of the greatest of all of Shakespeare's
works, will get the big screen treatment, with an announced cast that includes
Sir Anthony Hopkins as King Lear, with
Keira Knightley and
Gwyneth Paltrow
portraying two of Lear's daughters, Cordelia and Regan. There was no word as to
who might play the third daughter, Goneril. Also in question is whether the
production would be a full adaptation or a truncated one; King Lear runs
something like three hours and forty minutes in length.
The film was announced at the Cannes Film Festival, one
of only several big announcements made there on Sunday. A new version of The Picture of Dorian Gray will head into
production starring Prince Caspian himself, Ben Barnes, and The Other Boleyn
Girl will get a sequel. Not to spoil the ending of the first film, but I rather
doubt Natalie Portman will be back.
The timing of the new King Lear is curious; although there has not been a film version of the story
in 25 years, the recent theatrical success of
Ian McKellen's King Lear has led
to a
televised version of that production, which has made headlines for McKellen's nude scene.
The Telegraph reports that his naughty bits will
not be censored for television. The BBC version is set for a December airing,
which means it's logical to stand these two new versions of King Lear side by
side in comparison.
But there's no faulting the material nor do I believe
you can take issue with the casting. King Lear is the story of one of the
ultimate dysfunctional families. There's tragedy...and then there's King Lear.
Betrayal, disownment, insanity, death: This one's got everything. Except a happy
ending.
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