William Shakespeare is going through a gender transformation thanks to Julie Taymor. The director of Across The Universe and Frida (and the brains behind the upcoming Spider-Man: The Musical) is adapting The Tempest for her next trick and she's turning Prospero into a ladeee.
The Hollywood Reporter says Taymor has cast Helen Mirren in the lead role of "Prospera" for her second stab at directing The Bard's stormy tale (she filmed The Tempest once already in 1986 and also made Titus - based on Titus Andronicus - in 1999).
Mirren will play the exiled duchess-turned-sorcerer, alongside the likes of Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Ben Whishaw and Felicity Jones.
The Miramax release, which is due to start filming in Hawaii in November, will centre around Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones), a shipwrecked crew and a bunch of magical sorts (including Hounsou's deformed slave Caliban and Whishaw's airy spirit Ariel).
Among the unlucky shipwreckees are Brand's jester Trinculo, Irons' King of Naples and Molina's drunken butler Stephano.
Why not throw it Matt Lucas and David Walliams and just have a mega camp-fest.
I mean, Russel Brand - he's not even a proper actor. Just a quite funny, slightly limp-wristed Kenneth Williams-alike (ooh, I'm a right shagger, me!)...this is controversial casting for the sake of it. More
Posted by rupert303 at 07:51 on 09 October 2008 | Report This Post
RE:
Lord, hereditary sloth instructs me,
Thee, the right Duke of Milan to address;
Although this Lord of weak remembrance,
A Man and not a wench I thought thou were.
And yet, the setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
A Duchess thee to be. a e!
How odd in every way, it seems to cry out.
If by thine Art my eyes are deceiv'd,
The article I read thine name "Helen Mirren" speaks.
Be it a token out of careless Julie Taymor?
Or are we merely cheated of our wits by drunkards?
Anothe More
Posted by Incanus at 05:38 on 09 October 2008 | Report This Post
Julie Taymor is my favourite female director working today...not that there are that many, but she is a smart and visually powerful filmmaker. Better than Greenaways "Prospero's books" ? lets hope it has as many naked women in at least :D ...hey! i'm a supporter of femanist, but I also enjoy observing the female form on film... More
Posted by punchdrunk at 21:03 on 08 October 2008 | Report This Post
Titus was ace, and I suppose...
this maye be good. More than likely it will just end up being shown to bored drama and english GCSE students at some point and hopefully while away two boring hours of their tedious school life. More
Posted by coomi01 at 13:35 on 08 October 2008 | Report This Post
RE: Shakespeare Gets A Sex Change
That's pretty interesting news. Great cast overall, I really liked the Universes Drew_231 said above, i] was quite mad, but was still quite entertaining, so it'll be interesting to see what Traymor does with this. Love the idea of Mirren in the male role - it's like proper old-fashioned cross-casting! More
...this decision kind of changes the dynamics of the play/film. It may work. More
Posted by jpt1976 at 12:50 on 08 October 2008 | Report This Post
interesting
Titus was quite mad, but was still quite entertaining
Don't know how relevant this will be to the film, but the father/daughter relationship between Prospero and Miranda is pretty central to the play. They may ditch those elements then.
Anyway, it will be nice to see this as its an interesting play that doesn't have the film interest it deserves More
Posted by Drew_231 at 12:01 on 08 October 2008 | Report This Post
Russel Brand does Shakespeare?
Heaven forfend! I doubt the Bard had back-combed hair and spray-on jeans in mind when he wrote for Trinculo. More
Posted by JohnnyBGoode at 11:57 on 08 October 2008 | Report This Post
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