THE DOLL (LALKA) POLISH CLASSIC FROM BOLESLAW PRUS IS GETTING BOTH A PERIOD SET MOVIE AND TV SERIES ADAPTATION THIS YEAR! SEE TRAILERS

    LALKA - THE DOLL  

THE POLISH MOVIE VERSION

It sometimes happens that the same book gets different adaptations but rarely within the same year which is happening this year with Boleslaw Prus' famous Polish classic THE DOLL (Lalka) which is getting both a Polish movie adaptation and a Netflix TV series this year. The movie comes from director Maciej Kawalski and should hit cinemas September 30th with Marcin Dorocinski and Kamila Urzedowska in the lead roles. In the film, wealthy merchant Stanislaw Wokulski (Marcin Dorocinski) falls tragically in love with beautiful yet vain Izabela Lecka (Kamila Urzedowska). His unfulfilled love leads to many foolish decisions sealing his fate.

 

 

The TV series version will stream on Netflix

NETFLIX TV SERIES VERSION

At the same time, also arriving sometime later this year is Netflix Polish original series directed by Paweł Maślona and set against the backdrop of 19th century Warsaw. It follows the complex tension between the wealthy merchant Stanisław Wokulski (Tomasz Schuchardt) and the aristocratic Izabela Łącka (Sandra Drzymalska). He is a successful merchant who finds himself torn between his progressive ideals and his infatuation with Izabela Łęcka, a haughty and vacuous aristocrat. Covering the themes of unrequited love, class conflict and Poland’s stagnation under the Third Partition the six episode saga is set to air towards the end of the year. 

 

SEE FIRST FIRST TRAILER FOR QUEEN ANNA 11TH CENTURY SET MOVIE ON THE RUSSIAN PRINCESS AND QUEEN OF FRANCE

    QUEEN ANNA   

FIRST TRAILER FOR RUSSIAN  HISTORICAL FILM

Ekaterina Voronina is Queen Anna

Back in December last year, I showed you the first images from new Russian historical movie QUEEN ANNA (Королева Анна) which finished shooting last winter over in Moscow and will have a long post production since it is scheduled to arrive into cinemas February 2027! And today we have the first posters and a trailer! Lead roles are given to our dear Sergey Bezrukov (who already played Boris Godunov in a series and is now playing another Russian famous ruler Yaroslav the Wise) and Ekaterina Voronina as his daughter princess Anna. Aleksei Sidorov

Ilya Malanin is brave knight Ostromir

 wrote and directed the film which also stars Viktor Dobronravov and Aleksei Kravchenko.

 

  THE STORY OF THE FILM IS SET IN

Rus' of the 11th century. Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Sergei Bezrukov) marries his daughter Anna (Ekaterina Voronina) to the King of the Franks. She views this dynastic marriage with fatalism, like all her sisters and brothers. She faces a 3,000km long, difficult, and perilous journey to France. Yaroslav entrusts the leadership of Anna's cortege and her protection along the way to the skilled warrior Ostromir (Ilya Malanin), who has proven his valor and loyalty to the prince.

DEZZY'S HISTORICAL LESSON 

It is interesting that the princess's cortege stretched for 600 meters and consisted of 100 horsemen, dozens of carriages, and carts filled with jewels and riches. As Yaroslav's favourite child, she married King Henry I of France and became the queen and even acted as the regent ruling the country while her son was still under aged. He will later rule the country for 48 long years as Philip I. Unusual for that age, she was literate and she even learned French before starting the journey to France. Henry was almost twenty years older than her. Check out the first trailer below and tell us what you think.

 

SEE JOSEPH FIENNES MANAGE ENGLAND'S FOOTBALL TEAM IN DEAR ENGLAND BBC MINI TV SERIES TRAILER

   DEAR ENGLAND TRAILER  

WITH JOSEPH FIENNES IN THE LEAD 

Hitting BBC One next Sunday, May 24th is four part mini series DEAR ENGLAND a fictionalised account of Gareth Southgate’s time managing the England men’s football team. With the worst team track record for penalties in the world when he takes over as manager, Gareth knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take England back to the promised land. The country that gave the world football has delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t the England team win at their own game? Joseph Fiennes takes the lead role with Will Antenbring as Harry Kane. 

 

SEE DAMIEN MOLONY, HUGH SKINNER, JESSICA RAINE IN NEW BBC GREECE SET MINI TV SERIES TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST TRAILER

   TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST 

DAMIEN MOLONY, HUGH SKINNER TRAILER

The series starts next week on BBC One

I told you last year that BBC was working with Catherine Shepherd on TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST thriller series that tells the story of a woman who goes on holiday to Greece with her family and friends to rediscover joy in her life and today we have a trailer for you as well. We thought BBC might actually save it for August, but the eight part series starts May 23rd! You can check out the exciting trailer below and tell us what you think, will you be watching the new series?

 

 THE STORY OF THE SERIES FOLLOWS 

Zoe who begins to act on her deepest desires and the holiday she hoped for becomes a reckoning for a group of adults who refuse to grow up. But when they discover they are trapped on the island, and become faced with real life-or-death situations, the group soon turn on each other to find out who is to blame. Is Zoe responsible for the drama and destruction around her or, as heaven turns to hell, are bigger forces at play? We are in Greece after all, the land of the ancient Gods...The cast is led by Jessica Raine as Zoe, Damien Molony as her troubled husband Dan, Nicholas Pinnock as their old friend Solomon and Antonia Thomas as his new wife Jess, alongside Leila Farzad and our dearest Hugh Skinner as uni friends Nat and Jacob

 

RUSSELL CROWE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE LAST DRUID EPIC MOVIE WITH ANDREAS PIETSCHMANN

   THE LAST DRUID  

RUSSELL CROWE AGAINST ROMAN EMPIRE

Starting production next month down in Spain's Barcelona and Canary Islands is historical action movie THE LAST DRUID which starts when Roman Emperor discovers a secluded Druid stronghold in the mountains of

Russell Crowe and Andreas Pietschmann will lead the cast

 Caledonia. A peaceful Celtic elder (Russell Crowe) must take up arms to protect his family and people from annihilation. Helmed by William Eubank it will also star Andreas Pietschmann, Rose Leslie, and Daniel Zovatto.

SEE VIRGINIE EFIRA, VINCENT CASSEL, ISABELLE HUPPERT, CATHERINE DENEUVE, PIERRE NINEY, ADAM BESSA IN PARALLEL TALES MOVIE TRAILER

    PARALLEL TALES   

SEE TRAILER FOR NEW FRENCH MOVIE

Parallel Tales are out in French cinemas

While our favourite French and Belgian actress Virginie Efira is over at Cannes Film Festival this week, we shall take a peak at her new movie drama PARALLEL TALES (Histoires paralleles) from director Asghar Farhad which has started playing in French cinemas as of this week. The star studded cast also includes Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve and Adam Bessa. In search of inspiration for her new novel, Sylvie spies on her neighbors across the street. When she hires young Adam to help her with her daily routine, she has no idea that he will turn her life and her work upside down, until the fiction she had imagined surpasses the reality of them all.

 

EMMA LAIRD, ISABELLA ROSSELLINI TO LEAD MARIE ANTOINETTE COURT SET MOVIE DRAMA VERMILLION

    VERMILLION   

MARIE ANTOINETTE ERA SET MOVIE DRAMA

British director Jon Amiel is preparing a French revolution set movie drama VERMILLION. Leading the cast is Emma Laird as Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, a daughter of the lower middle classes who uses her skills as a portrait painter to hustle her way into the royal court of Versailles.

Emma Laird will lead the new movie

 She has an affair with the left leaning, impoverished Count Alexis de Ligne, a handsome aristocrat who makes his living as a toy-boy for wealthy older women, to get a commission to paint the naive young Queen Marie Antoinette. Isabella Rossellini plays the formidable Madame de Noailles, an old-school aristocrat devoted to Marie Antoinette and haunted by a lost love. Millicent Simmonds plays Berthe, Élisabeth’s young servant and frequent muse. Her portraits will make her as immortal as ‘The Girl With the Pearl Earring'. But each underestimates the subversive power of love. As the deadly firestorm of the French Revolution erupts and the guillotine looms, all three will come to learn the true meaning of loyalty, friendship and courage.

SEE RAFE SPALL AS PRIME MINISTER IN FIRST IMAGES FROM CHANNEL 4 SERIES NUMBER TEN WITH JENNA COLEMAN, LAURA HADDOCK, RICHARD RANKIN

    NUMBER 10 SERIES   

RAFE SPALL IS THE PRIME MINISTER

Channel 4 and Steven Moffat have produced new comedy series NUMBER 10 with Rafe Spall playing the prime minister, Katherine Kelly as his Chief of Staff, and Jenna Coleman as her deputy and today we have the first images to prove it. Laura Haddock and Richard Rankin also star! There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. The government will be fictional and unspecific, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters. The series will air sometime this year.

COLIN MORGAN, LUKE TREADAWAY TO LEAD NEW FAMILY ADVENTURE SERIES THE EMPEROR'S STONE FOR RAI, ZDF AND FRANCE TELEVISIONS

   THE EMPEROR'S STONE  

TV SERIES STARRING COLIN MORGAN

We do ever so love European coproductions and now French France Television, German ZDF and Italian RAI are producing a six episode family adventure series THE EMPEROR'S STONE starring our dear Colin Morgan alongside Luke Treadaway! In the series, an ex-treasure-hunter

First look at Colin and Luke in the new series

 and descendent of a famous pirate uncovers a lost diary that could lead to the mysterious and powerful Emperor’s Stone. To repair his fractured family and save their home, they follow clues left by their ancestors, finding themselves facing dangerous powers on a high-stakes adventure to stop the stone from falling into the wrong hands.

RORY KINNEAR, ELEANOR TOMLINSON, EVE MYLES, DAVID THEWLIS TO LEAD CHANNEL 4 COMIC THRILLER WRONG MOVE

   WRONG MOVE SERIES   

ADS RORY KINNEAR, DAVID THEWLIS, EVE MYLES, ELEANOR TOMPLINSON

Channel 4 has announced cast for their comic thriller mini TV series WRONG MOVE which will be led by Rory Kinnear, Eleanor Tomlinson, Eva Myles, David Thewlis, David Bradley, in the story that follows complicated lives of the people trying to take the next steps up the property ladder, and the misguided notion that moving house can fix everything. The plot follows three couples who are tied in a property-buying chain, only for the person at the top to pull out the night before the deals are done, causing chaos for those lower down.