SHAKESPEARE SUNDAY: BBC SETS AIRING DATE FOR ANTHONY HOPKINS' 'KING LEAR' WITH EMMA THOMPSON, EMILY WATSON, JIM BROADBENT, TOBIAS MENZIES! STUNNING NEW 'MACBETH' WITH MARK ROWLEY

  BBC SETS DATE FOR 'KING LEAR'

WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, EMMA THOMPSON, EMILY WATSON!
A little bit of Shakespeare for your enlightenment today, starting with Anthony Hopkins' TV movie KING LEAR which will air on BBC Two Monday 28th May! You can check out the trailer below the post!

THE BURDEN OF BEING A KING

Set in the fictional present, the 80 year old King Lear (Anthony Hopkins) divides his kingdom among his daughters, Goneril (Emma Thompson), Regan (Emily Watson) and Cordelia (Florence Pugh) - according to their

The new adaptation was directed by Richard Eyre!

affection for him. Cordelia refuses to flatter him, so he banishes her. Having acquired power, Goneril and Regan expel their father from their homes. At the

Hopkins was mistaken for a homeless man during the shooting

same time, Lear's prime minister, Gloucester (Jim Broadbent), is betrayed by his son Edmund (John Macmillan) and his other son, Edgar (Andrew

Tobias Menzies is also the part of the stunningly stellar cast

Scott), is forced to go into hiding. Lear becomes mad, Gloucester is blinded: both the kingdom and the family descend into chaos and warfare.

  NEW 'MACBETH' MOVIE

Macbeth aired in UK cinemas in March

WITH MARK ROWLEY

Speaking of Shakespeare's works done in a new light, check out this one: MACBETH  entirely shot on green screen and reinvented by director Kit Monkman starring The Last Kingdom's Mark Rowley! Monkman’s unique adaptation successfully bridges the gap between theatre and film by exploiting the capabilities of the green screen to portray the vast world of make-believe while maintaining the traditional values, language and themes of Shakespeare’s original theatrical play.

Super hunky Mark Rowley plays the lead role

A BRAVE NEW VISION OF THE OLD STORY
Brilliant young general MACBETH pulls off a glorious victory in battle before returning to an indolent court where honours are dispensed by whim. Spurred on by prophesying drifters and an ambitious wife, MACBETH sets his sights on the throne. In Kit Monkman's adventurous new adaptation, this compelling tale of unchecked ambition, soured friendship, lost intimacy and the descent into nihilism is encountered in a strange and claustrophobic territory partly conjured by the mind. The movie is currently available to stream and download on Amazon.

ANTHONY HOPKINS PHOTO FROM 'KING LEAR' WITH EMMA THOMPSON, EMILY WATSON, JIM BROADBENT, TOBIAS MENZIES, JIM CARTER! 'THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME' TRAILER WITH MILA KUNIS, JUSTIN THEROUX, SAM HEUGHAN

   1ST 'KING LEAR' PHOTO

FOR ANTHONY HOPKINS SUPER STELLAR TV DRAMA!

Anthony Hopkins and Florence Pugh

BBC and Amazon have revealed first photo of Anthony Hopkins as KING LEAR and Florence Pugh as his youngest daughter Cordelia from the latest TV movie adaptation! Hopkins plays a fictional present ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Emma Thompson is his eldest daughter Goneril, Emily Watson is Regan, Jim Broadbent is the Earl of Gloucester, Andrew Scott his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan his illegitimate son Edmund. Jim Carter, Tobias Menzies, Christopher Eccleston also star in the super stellar television movie.

   1ST 'THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME'

The movie is out this July in cinemas

TRAILER WITH MILA KUNIS, JUSTIN THEROUX & SAM HEUGHAN

In the trailer department check out the first one for Mila Kunis comedy THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME which gets dumped into cinemas this July following Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty year old best friends in Los Angeles, who are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey's ex boyfriend

Justin Theroux plays the spy who dumped her

(Justin Theroux) shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action,

Sam Heughan (right) plays the charming British agent

on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious but charming British agent (Sam Heughan), as they hatch a plan to save the world. 

NEW PERIOD SET & EPIC TV SHOWS COMING TO AMAZON IN 2018: BRITANNIA, KING LEAR, VANITY FAIR & PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK!

AMAZON'S 2018 EPIC DELIGHTS

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK!

This 6 episode series will air on Foxtel in Australia and then on Amazon. Starring Natalie Dormer PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK  will plunge viewers into the mysterious disappearances of three schoolgirls and one

Picnic at Hanging Rock is based on Joan Lindsay novel

teacher on Valentine’s Day 1900, taking the audience on a new journey into the revered Australian novel from Joan Lindsay.

NEW 'VANITY FAIR'!
The 7 part adaptation of Thackeray’s classic is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, and follows modern heroine Becky Sharp (Olivia Cooke) as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and scale the heights of English

Vanity Fair will first air on ITV in UK, probably this spring

Society. Her story of takes her all the way to the court of King George IV, via the Battle of Waterloo, breaking hearts and losing fortunes as she goes. VANITY FAIR also stars Tom Bateman and Charlie Rowe!

STAR STUDDED 'KING LEAR'

David Morrissey Once a governor always a governor!

Set in the fictional present, with Anthony Hopkins as the king, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England KING LEAR will first air on BBC 2 and then on Amazon. Emma Thompson is his eldest daughter Goneril, Emily Watson middle daughter Regan, Florence Pugh Cordelia, the youngest one. Jim Broadbent is the Earl of Gloucester, Andrew Scott his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan his bastard son Edmund. Jim Carter, Christopher Eccleston, Tobias Menzies also star! It will be a one hour TV film.

BRAVE CELTIC BRITANNIA
Starring Kelly Reilly and David Morrissey, this ten part saga will start airing January 18th on Sky in the United Kingdom and on Amazon around the world. BRITANNIA is set in 43 AD as the Roman Imperial Army, determined and terrified in equal measure, returns to crush the Celtic heart of Britannia, a mysterious land ruled by wild warrior

Britannia will start its rule in less than a month from now

women and powerful Druids who can channel the powerful forces of the underworld. Zoe Wanamaker and Steven Weber also star in the epic adventure series.

BBC ANNOUNCES 19TH CENTURY POLAR ADVENTURE 'NORTH WATER', EPIC WW2 DRAMA 'WORLD ON FIRE', 'KING LEAR' WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, EMMA THOMPSON, 'BODYGUARD' WITH RICHARD MADDEN, KEELEY HAWES

BBC'S NEW PROJECTS 

ARCTIC SET 'NORTH WATER'

We're all posh British today, with BBC's announcement of a slate of their future projects! They are planning to turn Ian McGuire's novel THE

Andrew Haigh is directing the series

NORTH WATER into a five episode period set thriller series. Set in Hull and the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s it follows Patrick Sumner, a disgraced surgeon who signs up as ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic. On board he meets Henry Drax, the harpooner, a brutish killer whose amorality has been shaped to fit the harshness of his world. Hoping to escape the horrors of his past, Sumner finds himself on an ill-fated journey with a murderous psychopath. In search of redemption, his story becomes a harsh struggle for survival in the Arctic wasteland.

WW2 DRAMA 'WORLD ON FIRE'
Together with Poldark's and Victoria's Mammoth Screen, they're also working on epic WW2 landmark drama WORLD ON FIRE telling the story of WW2 through the lives of ordinary people from all sides of this global

King Lear will air on Amazon Prime too!

conflict. The 7 part saga tells the story of the first year of the war, starting with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and ending with the Battle of Britain. It follows a young translator in Warsaw, a factory worker in Manchester, a war correspondent, a family from Berlin etc.

NEW 'KING LEAR'

BBC has also officially confirmed their work on new TV movie KING LEAR. Hollywood Spy was among the first in the world to announce this project which, set in the fictional present, sees Anthony Hopkins as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Emma Thompson, Emily Watson and Florence Pugh are his daughters. Jim Broadbent is Earl of Gloucester, Andrew Scott is his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan his illegitimate son Edmund. Jim Carter is Earl of Kent, Christopher Eccleston is Oswald, Tobias Menzies is Duke of Cornwall. Karl Johnson is set to play Lear’s loyal jester the Fool.

RICHARD MADDEN'S 'BODYGUARD'
BBC has revealed the 1st photo from their 6 part drama BODYGUARD that tells the fictional story of David Budd (Richard Madden), working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch

Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes in Bodyguard

of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), whose politics stand for everything he despises, Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, is he actually her biggest threat?

ANTHONY HOPKINS, EMMA THOMPSON, JIM BROADBENT, EMILY WATSON, CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON IN BBC'S 'KING LEAR'! GEMMA ARTERTON, ELIZABETH DEBICKI ARE 'VITA AND VIRGINIA' IN VIRGINIA WOOLFE LESBIOPIC

'VITA AND VIRGINIA'

 GEMMA ARTERTON TO GO LESBIAN WITH VIRGINIA WOOLFE

Gemma Arterton will play Vita Sackville West

Literary Monday for you today, minions, starting with an info coming from Great Britain about a very lesbifriendly movie project on Virginia Woolf! Yes, I'm not kidding. Gemma Arterton is set to portray a famous novelist in a biopic titled VITA AND VIRGINIA which wants to show a different side of Woolfe. It brings a fascinating true story about the love affair between socialite and popular author Vita Sackville West and literary icon Virginia Woolf! Last I've heard Vita will be played by Gemma while The Night Manager's Elizabeth Debicki is to play Virginia Woolf. As 'Daily Mail' reports the film is based on Eileen Atkins’s adaptation of her epistolary play, which she created from the almost 20 years of correspon- dence between Woolf and Sackville West. Virginia, apparently, based her famous androgynous titular character Orlando on Sackville West which is why Vita's son called the novel the longest love letter in history.

BBC'S NEW 'KING LEAR' CASTS

ANTHONY HOPKINS, EMMA THOMPSON, EMILY WATSON, JIM BROADBENT AND OTHERS
Speaking of British drama, 'Daily Mail' also reports that Anthony Hopkins will play the lead role in BBC 2's TV movie on Shakespeare's

BBC2's King Lear will be a contemporary version

  KING LEAR! British thespians Emma Thompson, Emily Watson and Florence Pugh will play his daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Famous director Richard Eyre has also cast Jim Broadbent and Downton Abbey's Jim Carter to play Lear’s war ministers Gloucester and Kent! Andrew Scott will be Lear’s secret protector Edgar, while Christopher Eccleston will play Oswald in the story of the Shakespeare's old King now set in the fictional present with the tyrannical Lear using the Tower of London as the base for his military dictatorship!