After turning most of its actors (both upstairs and downstairs ones) from season one into regulars for season two Julian Fellowes' costume drama
Ben Lamb will be the Duke of Buckingham
GILDED AGE has now added new names to the ensemble of the HBO and Sky's series. Joining the series that follows class struggles in the New York of the 19th century, are Robert Sean Leonard as Reverend Matthew Forte: A jovial, congenial man, and recent transplant from Boston, Matthew is the new rector of the church attended by all the highest New York society.
Laura Benanti as Susan Blane: Recently widowed by a rich, dull man many years her senior, Susan is a very beautiful, glamorous woman living in Newport who hires Larry (Harry Richardson) as her architect for a major renovation on her Newport home.
Nicole Brydon Bloom as Caroline Stuyvesant: A beguiling socialite, Oscar (Blake Ritson) immediately recognizes her as the perfect heiress for marriage and a great match for his wit and disposition, while she finds him to be a valued confidant.
Michael Braugher as Booker
Laura Benanti will be a rich widow
T. Washington: The famed educator, he invites NY journalists Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones) and Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) to tour his new school in Tuskegee.
Christopher Denham as Robert McNeil: A wealthy, mainstream, somewhat uptight banker who is trying to navigate New York high society with his wife.
David Furr as Dashiell Montgomery: Agnes’ (Christine Baranski) nephew by marriage, he is wealthy, widowed and has recently moved to New York with his school-age daughter Frances.
Ben Lamb as The Duke of Buckingham: A posh British nobleman recently arrived in New York, he catches Bertha’s (Carrie Coon) eye as a tool for her ambition and match for Gladys. Matilda Lawler as
Christopher Denham, Robert Sean Leonard, David Furr will star
Frances Montgomery: Daughter to Dashiell Montgomery, she is innocent, naturally charming, endearing and well-bred with good manners.
Dakin Matthews as Mr. Winterton: A very rich widower, he married his new, young
Rebecca Haden and Nicole Brydon Bloom will also star
wife after an extremely short courtship – so short she hadn’t yet met any of his society friends and he is unaware of her past.
Rebecca Haden as Flora McNeil: Flora has lived at the top of New York society, and has been brought up to believe the lie that her father deserted her and her mother.
STAIRCASE TRAILER
FOR COLIN FIRTH HBO SERIES
Staircase will stream on HBO Max May 5th
After the recent teaser, HBO has released a full trailer for their eight episode series THE STAIRCASE starting May 5th with three opening episodes with the rest of them airing then one per week! Starring Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger,
and Parker Posey, it is based on a true story and explores the life of
Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family, and the
very suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson (Collette). It was a case that shocked the world and left him serving a prison sentence. Check out the trailer and poster below:
I've written about this one a couple of times over the years, but now it is finally getting into cinemas with November set as the release month for THE WARRIOR QUEEN OF JHANSI previously known as Swords and Sceptres, which boasts a rather strong British cast led by Derek Jacobi as Lord Palmerston, Rupert Everett as Sir
She was the queen of Jhansi in mid 19th century
Hugh Rose, Nathaniel Parker as Sir Robert Hamilton and Jodhi May as evil Queen Victoria herself!
The Warrior Queen Of Jhansi
also starring Ben Lamb and directed by
female director Swati Bhise (the producer of Dev Patel's The Man Who
Knew Infinity), is a sweeping historical tale of women's empowerment,
which brings
the true story of Lakshmibai (played by Indian star Devika Bhise whom
you have watched before in The Accidental Husband and The Man Who Knew
Infinity with Dev Pathel and Jeremy Irons), the historic
She died aged 30 in the battle with 5,000 of her soldiers
Queen of Jhansi
who fiercely led her army against the British East India Company in the
infamous
mutiny of 1857. From Queen Elizabeth to Queen Victoria, two-and a half
centuries of East India Company rule will be reversed by its attempt to
crush India's Warrior Queen. Lakshmibai is known as one of the most
prominent figures within the independence movement of India. The passion
to free her province from colonial rule led this young woman to become
one of the greatest generals of the Indian army and to go down in
history for her bravery, strategic acumen, and as a force to reckon with
by the East India Company and the British Raj. The Warrior Queen of
Jhansi is the story of the woman who lived, fought and died for the
freedom of her people.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on another great female ruler!
Swords and Sceptres is coming out sometime this year
Now, this one still does not have a release date nor a trailer, but we do have the first poster for India set epic movie SWORDS AND SCEPTRES which boasts a rather strong British cast lead by Derek Jacobi as Lord Palmerston, Rupert Everett as Sir Hugh Rose, Nathaniel Parker as Sir Robert Hamilton and Jodhi May as Queen Victoria herself!
SWORDS AND SCEPTRES also starring Ben Lamb and directed by female director Swati Bhise (the producer of Dev Patel's The Man Who Knew Infinity), is a sweeping historical tale of women's empowerment, which brings
Devika Bhise also wrote the movie with director Swati Bhise, her mother
the true story of Lakshmibai (played by Indian star Devika Bhise
whom you have watched before in The Accidental Husband and The Man Who
Knew
Lakshmibai was the queen of Jhansi in mid 19th century
Infinity with Dev Pathel and Jeremy Irons), the historic Queen of
Jhansi who fiercely led her army against the British East India Company
in the infamous
Rani of Jhansi died in battle when she was just 30 with 5,000 of her soldiers
mutiny of 1857. The movie has finished production
earlier last winter and should probably be released sometime later this
year.
If you follow your trusted spy regularly and religiously (As you really should), you have already been informed that among the large slate of new series that BBC is preparing, British broadcaster also has a plan of turning LES MISERABLES into new mini series and now they've revealed the cast! Lily Collins will play Fantine, Dominic West will star as Jean Valjean, and David Oyelowo as Javert, in the six part non musical series written by Andrew Davies (War and Peace) and directed by Tom Shankland! The cast will also have Adeel Akhtar and Olivia Colman as Monsieur and Madame Thénardier, Ellie Bamber as Cosette, Josh O’Connor as Marius and Erin Kellyman as Éponine. Masterpiece is teaming up with BBC on this one!
LES MISERABLES, which starts shooting next month, centres on French
convict Jean Valjean and his struggles to escape his past while being
hunted for years over a parole violation by Inspector Javert, set
against the backdrop of the uprising of 1832 France!
'SWORDS AND SCEPTRES'
1ST PHOTO FROM INDIA SET EPIC
Screen Daily has posted the first photo coming from Devika Bhise's historical epic SWORDS AND SCEPTRES which has just finished shooting starring Rupert Everett, Derek Jacobi, Ben Lamb and Jodhi May! As
The movie was shot in UK, India and Morocco!
the spy has reported before, the movie tells the true story of Rani Lakshmibai, the historic Queen of Jhansi who fiercely led her army against the British East India Company in the infamous Indian Rebellion of 1857.
