BBC'S 'WAR AND PEACE' SERIES
HIRES JAMES NORTON, PAUL DANO AND LILY JAMES AS LEADS
Earlier last summer I announced that BBC is preparing to produce epic new mini series on glorious Russian classic WAR AND PEACE and that Paul Dano and CINDERELLA's Lily James are rumoured for the roles, and now the roles have been officially confirmed: the two of them will be joined by currently very popular GRANTCHESTER star James Norton in the historical saga set in 1805 Russia following five aristocratic families against the backdrop of the reign of Alexander I, the lingering effects of his grandmother Catherine The 
Great’s rule and the events surrounding Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812!
ENSEMBLE CAST!
Paul Dano will be Pierre Bezukhov in BBC One's upcoming adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy classic, James Norton will portray Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, while Lily James is set to play Natasha Rostova. Stephen Rea will appear as Prince Vassily Kuragin, Ade Edmondson (Prey) and Greta Scacchi (The Falling) as Count and Countess Rostov, and Jack Lowden (The Tunnel) as Nikolai Rostov. Tom Burke (The Musketeers) will star as Dolokhov and Aisling Loftus (Mr Selfridge)
has been cast as Sonya. The Weinstein Company and the BBC production will have the six hour long
episodes penned by Andrew Davies from HOUSE OF CARDS!
Paul Dano will be Pierre Bezukhov in BBC One's upcoming adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy classic, James Norton will portray Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, while Lily James is set to play Natasha Rostova. Stephen Rea will appear as Prince Vassily Kuragin, Ade Edmondson (Prey) and Greta Scacchi (The Falling) as Count and Countess Rostov, and Jack Lowden (The Tunnel) as Nikolai Rostov. Tom Burke (The Musketeers) will star as Dolokhov and Aisling Loftus (Mr Selfridge)
has been cast as Sonya. The Weinstein Company and the BBC production will have the six hour long
episodes penned by Andrew Davies from HOUSE OF CARDS!
'WOLF HALL' EPIC SERIES
GETS FIRST BBC TRAILER
Speaking of BBC, they've released the first trailer for their new historical drama WOLF HALL which airs next month in UK and in April in USA. You can
read more about the epic series in our extensive spotlight. Starring Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII, the series follows the meteoric rise of his advisor Thomas Cromwell (played by Mark Rylance) from his lowly start as a blacksmith's son to being the most important person in the 16th century Tudor court. Claire Foy plays the calculating and ambitious Anne Boleyn, Jonathan Pryce is the ostentatious and powerful Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Joanne Whalley is Henry 's first wife Katherine of Aragon, Mark Gatiss is the haughty Stephen Gardiner, Secretary to the King, Anton Lesser is the heretic 
hunter Thomas More, Richard Dillane is the king's brother-in-law the Duke of Suffolk, Thomas Brodie Sangster is Cromwell's ward Rafe Sadler while Ed Speleers is Edward Seymour, brother to Henry VIII's third wife, Jane!
read more about the epic series in our extensive spotlight. Starring Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII, the series follows the meteoric rise of his advisor Thomas Cromwell (played by Mark Rylance) from his lowly start as a blacksmith's son to being the most important person in the 16th century Tudor court. Claire Foy plays the calculating and ambitious Anne Boleyn, Jonathan Pryce is the ostentatious and powerful Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Joanne Whalley is Henry 's first wife Katherine of Aragon, Mark Gatiss is the haughty Stephen Gardiner, Secretary to the King, Anton Lesser is the heretic hunter Thomas More, Richard Dillane is the king's brother-in-law the Duke of Suffolk, Thomas Brodie Sangster is Cromwell's ward Rafe Sadler while Ed Speleers is Edward Seymour, brother to Henry VIII's third wife, Jane!
Looks like some elaborate costuming in both of those.
ReplyDeleteyep, can't wait, especially for WAR ADN PEACE since Tolstoy is one of my fave writers ever
DeleteI read War and Peace for the first time when I was about 13 years old. That one was a life changer. I've spoken to people who didn't like it, saying it was ponderous. I think they just got hold of a bad translation. Doing this as a mini-series will be a real challenge and I hope it turns out well.
ReplyDeleteDahlink, as a professor of English literature I can say that British and American classics are pure rubbish next to Russian novels... even when they portray bored nobles the Russian one still have unbeatable depth in topics and the approach to character and story building.
DeleteThe Russians brought a lot of philosophy into their work and that helped. Dostoyevksy's The Idiot and Crimes and Punishment were brilliant. And then there were his essays. Also I think Russian peoples suffered more and had to think deeper thaoughts.
DeleteYes, philosophy, they also developed and brought psychology into novels even before it appeared as a separate medical science, and they tackled important political and social issues using novels as a form of criticism and a weapon too.
DeleteThese are all new faces for me. I have never heard of any of them. War and Peace seems to be popular. Maybe I should read the book and then watch it. :)
ReplyDeleteJames Norton's GRANTCHESTER soon stars at PBS too so you will be hearing more of him! WAR AND PEACE has only a few thousands of pages, 'tis a piece of cake reading it :)
DeleteI'm looking forward to both. Love history & Tolstoy - was into Russian Literature at 17.
ReplyDeleteme too, I gulped all the Russian classics back in High School and couldn't stop reading them even during summer School breaks :)
Deletethat's quite a book to cover even with a miniseries
ReplyDeleteSure is, but it has been done before and it has been covered even in films which last for only two hours
DeleteThese look great. I need to catch up with all of these shows and miniseries you feature.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember if I read War and Peace. I read many Russian novels during my college days.
You probably haven't if you don't remember it :)
DeleteI love epic series Dezzy!!
ReplyDeleteI think are my favorites because I love read about history too!
Happy New Year dear Dezzy!!!
mine too, Gloria, hope the series comes to Chile soon as well.
DeleteGloria loves epic series. That's why she loves the Dezz and Blue Show so much. She keeps coming back. Itell you, the woman is positively hooked!
Deletebecause we're positively epic?
DeleteNever read War and Peace. Probably never will. It took me an entire summer to get through Anna Karenina because I absolutely hated it. It wasn't going to get the best of me, so I finished it and said never Tolstoy again. I think you and I are opposites though. I find I hate most classics. I usually want to throat punch every character before the book has ended.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently thinking of maybe reading WAR AND PEACE, because it is the only of the big classic that I haven't read, but I have it only in English at home, and I'd like to read it in Serbian. But I do adore Tolstoy.
DeleteI liked ANNA, but I preferred the storyline around Levin and Kitty, while Anna irritated the coon's tail out of me. I generally cannot stand characters which suffer from splin (the boredom in noble people's lives) and those who are overly pathetic (which is why I despise Austen and her godawful fainting wenches) lol
I think Levin and Kitty was what kept pushing me through. It certainly wasn't that weak, drug whore, crappy mother Anna. I can't say I was too sad when she took her own life in the end.
DeleteI just had an argument with my daughter about Austen. She likes her novels, and I think they are stupid. Like you said, the fainting wenches irritates me. I don't have patience for weak women who sit around waiting for a man to come save them.
We did love trains so much more after reading the novel LOL It's interesting that in the novel Vronsky leaves Anna in order to go help Serbia in war :)
DeleteI think that the biggest number of fainting wenches is in Samuel Richardson's PAMELA. I had to read it at college and I think I will live a year shorter thanks to that suffering experience.
War and Peace... Zzzzzzzz oh sorry, you were saying? A classic? Well, it tells us all we need to know about the human race.
ReplyDeleteand about Russian winter! Which could be Serbian too currently
DeleteLet's skip the chapters about winter.
DeleteI've skipped all the war chapters in QUIET FLOWS THE DON in that way!
Delete