ANSON MOUNT WILL BE KILLING FOR ANTHONY HOPKINS IN THE VIRTUOSO MOVIE WITH ABBIE CORNISH. EL CID CREATORS TO TURN CITY OF MARVELS NOVEL INTO NEW PERIOD SET SERIES

 THE VIRTUOSO MOVIE THRILLER

ANSON MOUNT IS KILLING FOR ANTHONY HOPKINS

While we are waiting for his new Star Trek series, Anson Mount has finished THE VIRTUOSO movie which also stars Anthony Hopkins and Abbie Cornish.

Anson Mount is taking the lead role

Lionsgate will release the film later this summer. Hopkins stars as The Mentor, the head of a sophisticated group of highly skilled assassins. And at the top of them all is a hitman (Mount) who is the very best at what he does – not merely a professional, but a true artist, a virtuoso. Tortured by a past job gone wrong, and to satisfy an outstanding debt to The Mentor, The Virtuoso accepts a new assignment – but he’s given no name or photo, only a code word and the information that his target will be in a rustic diner in a dying town. With several possible targets, including a deputy sheriff, an encounter with a local woman (Cornish) threatens to derail his mission and endanger his life.

  CITY OF MARVELS TV SERIES 

 FROM EL CID CREATORS

As Variety reports, the creators of Amazon Prime's El Cid epic TV series are planning to turn Eduardo Mendoza's acclaimed novel CITY OF

Oliver Martinez starred in the previous adaptation

MARVELS (La Ciudad de los Prodigios) into a six part mini series. Published in 1986 and translated into 14 languages, the book chronicles the protagonist Onofre Bouvila’s journey from small-time hustler to one of the richest people in Spain. The multi-generational story is set against the backdrop of Barcelona’s social and cultural evolution at the turn of the 20th century, as the city shook off its medieval past and reinvented itself as a vibrant modern metropolis. The rise of Barcelona as a mercantile power between the two World Fairs that it hosted in 1888 and 1929 was extraordinary and serves as the perfect backcloth for this story of political intrigue, corruption, murder and romance in the way that will resonate with audiences around the world.

YOU WON'T RECOGNISE GLENN CLOSE AND MILA KUNIS IN FOUR GOOD DAYS POWERFUL DRAMA TRAILER! SHERIDAN SMITH TO LEAD CHANNEL 5'S NEW THRILLER SERIES TEACHER

  SHERIDAN SMITH TO LEAD  

TEACHER CHANNEL 5 DRAMA

After Drowning, Penance and Deceived, Channel 5 is giving us another interesting thriller mini series and they've set Sheridan Smith to lead TEACHER a four part series in which she will be Jenna, a state schoolteacher

Samuel Bottomley, Sheridan Smith and Kelvin Fletcher will star

whose life unravels after being accused of a drunken sexual encounter with one of her pupils. Other cast includes Samuel Bottomley, Kelvin Fletcher, Cecilia Noble, Sharon Rooney, David Fleeshman and Ian Puleston Davies! 

FOUR GOOD DAYS TRAILER

WITH GLENN CLOSE, MILA KUNIS

Four Good Days are out this May!

Meanwhile, you probably won't recognise Mila Kunis in the first trailer for FOUR GOOD DAYS movie drama which is out May 21st on VOD over in USA. Glenn Close also stars, giving another impressive role in the powerful true story from a Pulitzer Award winning writer, that follows a mother who helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse. The film which will also hit selected theaters this spring was both written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia who already helmed Glenn Close in award winning drama Albert Nobbs. Check out the moving trailer below and tell us what you think.

MASSIVE WW2 EPIC TV SERIES ROADS TO FREEDOM FROM RIDLEY SCOTT, STEVEN KNIGHT! SHOWTIME, ANTOINE FUQUA PREPARING SHAKA: KING OF THE ZULU NATION EPIC TV SERIES

  ROADS TO FREEDOM SERIES 

UNITES RIDLEY SCOTT & STEVEN KNIGHT IN A MASSIVE ENDEVOUR

Two epic series for you today, first up, a collaboration between Ridley Scott and Steven Knight on a massive ten episode WW2 saga ROADS TO FREEDOM based on the war books by Anthony Beevor, translated in more

Russia, France, Crete are just some of the countries in the books

than 30 languages. While most Hollywood war projects focus on the American and British effort, this global project will portray the brutal realities from multiple viewpoints, with characters also from Russia, Germany, France and other countries across the globe. That includes women, and children struggling to survive. The emphasis is on humanity, the characters bound together by one dramatic story. Some of the story lines will be discomforting, but heroic, and the race between East and West to capture Berlin will shed light on what became the foundations of the Cold War.

  SHAKA: KING OF ZULU NATION  

SERIES ORDERED BY SHOWTIME

If you're as old as your spy, you probably remember a Shaka Zulu series from the 80s, and now we're getting a new one: as Deadline reports, Antoine

Antoine Fuqua will direct the epic series

Fuqua has joined Showtime in the creation of SHAKA: KING OF THE ZULU NATION series about the Zulu Empire chief Shaka and his unlikely rise to power, uniting multiple tribes across vast stretches of Africa in the early 19th century to transform his power into legend, on par with history’s most seminal figures. In ferocious battles that test the body and soul, in alliances that test the bonds of love and friendship, a complex sociological system plays out that renders the human cost front and center, for the victors as well as the vanquished, all in an effort to carve out a semblance of identity, fulfillment and ultimately, survival.

MATTHEW GOODE, DAVID MORRISSEY, PHOEBE DYNEVOR TO LEAD PERIOD SET DRAMA THE COLOUR ROOM FOR SKY! MARTIN COMPSTON, IAIN GLEN, EMILY HAMPSHIRE TO LEAD AMAZON'S THE RIG MYSTERY SERIES

  MATTHEW GOODE TO LEAD 

TO LEAD SKY'S NEW PERIOD SET MOVIE THE COLOUR ROOM

And he will do it together with Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor who will plays Stoke-on-Trent ceramic artist Clarice Cliff. This true story will see Goode

Matthew Goode will be a factory owner

play eccentric factory owner Colley Shorter, with David Morrissey as art designer Fred Ridgeway. Luke Norris will also star. THE COLOUR ROOM follows the journey of determined factory worker Clarice, who breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionises the 20th century workplace with her ambition and creativity. Working in a series of factories in the industrial Midlands of the 1920s, Clarice is brimming with ideas for colours and shapes and she ends up taking more and more dangerous risks, all while trying to temper the financial impact her constant moves have on her widowed mother Ann (Kerry Fox) and her youngest sister Dot (Darci Shaw). Clarice soon impresses Colley with her talent and innovation and is apprenticed to renowned art designer Fred Ridgeway. With support from Colley and other women in the factory, Clarice designs the unprecedented Art Deco 'Bizarre' range. Her innovative designs ensure the

Matthew Good and Phoebe Dynevor at the set of the film

factory's survival during the Great Depression, securing her a future as a household name and one of the great Art Deco designers. The film will air later this year.

    THE RIG TV SERIES   

SET AT AMAZON UK

Amazon UK has set the cast for their intriguing UK original series THE RIG which will star Emily Hampshire, Iain Glen, Martin Compston and Mark Bonnar! To start shooting this month in Scotland, the drama will be set on the Kishorn Bravo oil rig, stationed off the Scottish coast in the dangerous waters of the North Sea. When the crew is due to return to the

Emily Hampshire, Martin Compston, Iain Glen will lead the cast

mainland, a mysterious and all-enveloping fog rolls through and they find themselves cut off from all communication with the shore and the outside world. As the rig is hit by massive tremors, the crew endeavour to discover what’s driving the unknown force. But a major accident forces them to ask questions about who they can really trust. Emily Hampshire will play Rose Mason, the scientist and oil company rep, a fresh face on-board the rig.

TOM HIDDLESTON JOINS CLAIRE DANES IN ESSEX SERPENT PERIOD SET SERIES! SUPER THRILLING EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE TRAILER WITH SAM CLAFLIN, CASEY AFFLECK, MICHELLE MONAGHAN

  1ST TOM HIDDLESTON PHOTO 

FROM ESSEX SERPENT SERIES

A few weeks ago I showed you first photos of Claire Danes from Apple's new period set series THE ESSEX SERPENT and now news arrive that Tom Hiddleston has joined her in the series that follows newly widowed Cora who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from

First photo of Hiddleston in the series that started shooting yesterday

  Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. Hiddleston will star as Will Ransome, the trusted leader of a small rural community.

 

  EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE  

TRAILER WITH SAM CLAFLIN

Every Breath You Take is out this April

In the video department, you can check out the first trailer for thriller movie EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE which is out April 2nd in USA. It is a searing psychological thriller about a psychiatrist (Casey Affleck), whose career is thrown into jeopardy when his patient takes her own life. When he invites his patient's surviving brother (Sam Claflin) into his home to meet his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and daughter, his family life is suddenly torn apart. The film has been in production since 2012, changing directors and actors in the process. Harrison Ford and Zac Efron were the original cast choice under the helm of Rob Reiner but the film was ultimately helmed by Vaughn Stein.

 

JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS IS THE WHITE RAJAH IN THE FIRST TRAILER FOR HISTORICAL ADVENTURE EDGE OF THE WORLD SET IN 19TH CENTURY SARAWAK

 EDGE OF THE WORLD TRAILER 
WITH JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS

Edge of the World will hit VOD later this June

Over at Digital Spy we spied today the first trailer for historical adventure which will hit UK streaming platforms in late June, EDGE OF THE WORLD (formerly known as The White Rajah) a new historical movie from director Michael Haussman in which Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Sir James Brooke, the British adventurer who became King of Sarawak in the 1840's and embarked on a lifelong crusade to end piracy and head hunting - only to face charges of

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Dominic Monaghan lead the cast

murder and piracy himself. He was the real-life 19th century inspiration behind Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King and also Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim!

THE RULER OF SARAWAK
Born in Bengal to a British expatriates, Brooke would join the Bengal Army of the British East India Company before being seriously wounded and

The film was helmed by Michael Haussman, director of music videos

sent to England to recover. Having inherited a small fortune, he later bought a 142-ton boat and set sail for Borneo in 1838 in order to escape a certain

The movie was filmed in English and a mix of local Sarawak dialect

romantic scandal. After falling in love with this tropical paradise, he fought pirates and the Sultan’s enemies to win, in 1841, a crown as Rajah of Sarawak,

Dominic Monaghan plays Rajah's right hand and friend

where he ruled a jungle kingdom larger than England until his death in 1868. Brooke was knighted by Queen Victoria for his bravery, but went on to defy the monarch when the British Empire tried to colonize Sarawak. The reign of

The first idea to make this movie appeared back in 2010.

the White Rajah lasted three generations across a century, and the family's legacy is now immortalised in the recently opened Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita in Kuching, Sarawak.

Who Is In The Rajah's Cast?

Beside Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the lead role, the cast also includes Hong Kong singer-turned-actress Josie Ho as Madame Lim, the explorer's former lover and Chinese leader, and Dominic Monaghan who is playing

The movie written by Rob Alyn was shot last year at  Borneo

Colonel Arthur Crookshank, Brooke’s cousin and comrade-in-arms. Ralph Ineson plays Sir Edward Beech with Hannah New as Elizabeth Crookshank. The rest of the cast is made of native actors.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON INSANELY OPULENT SPANISH COSTUME SERIES THE VINEYARD WHICH WILL BRING 19TH CENTURY MEXICO, LONDON AND CUBA TO AMAZON PRIME THIS MONTH

  VINEYARD TV SERIES 

AMAZON'S NEW COSTUME DRAMA

La Tempanza arrives March 26th to Amazon

Just as I promised you last week, today I'm bringing you a third period set series coming from Spain to arrive to the small screens this year. And VINEYARD (La Templanza) is arriving as soon as March 26th and since it will stream on Amazon Prime it will probably be available to the world wide audiences who have the streamer in their countries. This ten episode costume drama, starring Rafael Novoa and Leonor Watling and based on the novel by María Dueñas, brings a romantic story set in 1860 against the backdrop of different historic world cities. As you can see

This ten episode saga will be rich in lavish costumes and sets

from the photos and from the trailer below, the series will be abundant in extremely opulent costumes and historical sets of the era. 

THE VINEYARD IS SET  

at the end of the 19th century. Soledad Montalvo and Mauro Larrea are a self-made woman and man whose destinies are about to converge in a fascinating

The series was shot in Tenerife, Canary Islands and Spain

time and place. The period production promises to be a tale about overcoming adversity and finding our place in the world, as well as a story about how to build an empire and lose everything in one day, about adventures in exotic lands and second chances.

 THE SERIES IS DIRECTED BY

Guillem Morales (Julia's eyes), Alberto Ruiz Rojo (El Cid) and Patricia Font (People who come and bah). Susana López Rubio (El tiempo entre

Leonor Watling and Rafael Novoa lead the cast of the series

costuras) has led the writing team of a Boomerang TV production that will tour the tumultuous mining communities of Mexico in the 19th century, the

The series is a small screen adaptation of a Maria Duenas novel

elegant halls of the exclusive London society, the Cuba of the slave trade and the most valued wineries in the world in Jerez

.

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES 3RD SEASON EPIC TV SERIES ANNOUCEMENT TEASER IS HERE WITH MATTHEW GOODE! ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FINAL SEASON

  A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES  

THIRD SEASON EPIC TRAILER!

 Although a lot of people found the second season really slow and dreary, Sky's A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES series, based on Deborah Harkness' books,

Toby Regbo will be Diana's and Matthew's son

is returning next year with a third season, which will also be its final, and they've just issued an announcement trailer for it. The series which follows a witch Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) and a vampire Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode), who fall in love in a world in which that love is forbidden, will ad a number of new actors in the final season which finished shooting last month. Reign's, Medici's and The Last Kingdom's Toby Regbo is joining as the older version of the son whom Diana and Matthew adopted during their visit to the Elizabethan England where she tried to develop her time weaving powers. Peter McDonald (also from The Last Kingdom) will be replacing Trystan

Peter McDonald will be Baldwin Clermont

Gravelle as senior vampire Baldwin Montclair/ de Clermont after a scheduling conflict saw the latter pull out. He will play a larger role in the third season in which Diana and Matthew continue their fight to get their love recognised by their respective kind. Ivanno Jeremiah (as molecular biologist and friend of Diana, Christopher Roberts), Genesis Lynea (as a New Orleans vampire), Parker Sawyers (as New Orleans vampire Ransome Fayrweather, Matthew's grandson) and Olivier Huband (as Portuguese vampire Fernando Gonçalves) are also new additions to the cast. Lindsay Duncan, Tom Hughes, Alex Kingston and James Purefoy were also regulars in season two and should return as well. The series airs on AMC in USA.

PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED HOMOPHOBIA EXPOSED IN AWARD WINNING SOUTH AFRICAN PERIOD SET DRAMA MOFFIE

   MOFFIE MOVIE TRAILER  

PERIOD SET QUEER DRAMA

Continuing our international updates, today we're moving down to South Africa and their Bafta nominated movie MOFFIE set in the Apartheid South Africa, which will be released in USA April 9th on VOD and selected

After playing around the world Moffie airs in USA April

theatres. Written and directed by Oliver Hermanus, the movie explores the life of a closeted young boy serving his mandatory military service in 1980s South Africa, and exposes the psychological violence of institutionalized homophobia.

Nicholas (Kai Luke Brummer) has long known he is different, that there is something shameful and unacceptable in him that must stay hidden, denied even. But South Africa's minority government are embroiled in conflict at the Angolian border and all white young men over 16 must serve two years of compulsory military service. The communism is the real and present threat; what is wrong with Nicholas and others like him can be rooted out, treated

The title of the film is a derogatory word for a homosexual in Africaans

and cured like a cancer. But just when fear pushes Nicholas to accept unspeakable horrors in the hopes of staying invisible, a tender relationship with another recruit becomes as dangerous for them both as any enemy fire.

VIGGO MORTENSEN, COLIN FARRELL, TOM BATEMAN, JOEL EDGERTON CAST IN THAI CAVE RESCUE FILM THIRTEEN LIVES! ITV'S DARLING BUDS OF MAY TV SERIES REMAKE THE LARKINS CASTS DAUGHTER OF THE FAMILY AND BLACKWASHES HER LOVE INTEREST

THIRTEEN LIVES RESCUE PIC

GETS A STELLAR CAST

And there are quite a lot of famous names in it: as Deadline reports, Thai cave rescue film THIRTEEN LIVES has just cast Viggo Mortensen (as expert in rescues), Colin Farrell (as veteran cave diver), Tom Bateman (as British diving officer), Joel Edgerton (as a cave diver) who will play the heroic rescuers who took part in a dangerous operation that cost one rescue diver his life while all of the boys, and the coach, were saved before

Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Tom Bateman will star in the movie

floodwaters completely filled the caves. The rest of the cast will consist of Asian actors. Ron Howard is directing the true story of the rescue of twelve boys and their soccer coach from a flooded, impenetrable cave system in Thailand in 2018. Thai families, the government, and a community of farmers and neighbors came together alongside volunteers from around the world to get them out of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in Chiang Rai Province.

 

  THE LARKINS TV SERIES  

FINDS THE DAUGHTER OF THE BELOVED LARKIN FAMILY

Earlier this winter I announced that ITV is preparing a new TV series adaptation of beloved classic Darling Buds of May titled THE LARKINS and

Sabrina Bartlett will be the oldest daughter

now they've cast the daughter of the family - Knightfall, Victoria and Poldark actress Sabrina Bartlett will play Mariette, the oldest child of the Larkin family led by Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan who live more of less carefree on their idyllic farm in England where they indulge in laughs, family love and food, tons of food . But since everything these days has to be woke, her love interest has been blackwashed (but with a very cute actor) in the series and Tok Stephen will play Cedric Charlton, an accountant from the city, who arrives in sunny 1950s Kent to investigate the family's perhaps

Tok Stephen will be the blackwashed accountant in love

slightly dodgy tax affairs, and slowly finds himself drawn to both the country lifestyle, and Mariette herself. The series is based on H.E. Bates' novels, with the creators of The Durrells working on this six part adaptation.