Jude Law seems to be making leaving movies he was attached to a bit of a theme at the moment, as he joined and left Jane Got A Gun within a week last month, and now he’s left behind Werner Herzog’s upcoming Gertrude Bell biopic Queen of the Desert, according to Deadline. Herzog may have already found a replacement though in the form of James Franco.
The true story film stars Naomi Watts as Gertrude Bell, an explorer, writer, archaeologist and attaché for the British Empire, who is credited with helping to catalyse the formation of the Middle East at the dawn of the 20th Century. She’s been described as the female Lawrence of Arabia, although the film will also include the real T.E. Lawrence, played by Robert Pattinson. There’s no news on exactly what the role Franco is up for will be.
Law dropped out a few months ago so that he could do the play Henry V, which caused Queen Of The Desert to come to a halt, but getting Franco onboard will hopefully start it back up again.
Having just read a biography of Gertrude Bell, I’d say it’s likely that if they’ve already cast TE Lawrence then he’s being considered for the role of Charles Doughty-Wylie, her friend/purported lover – he was married to someone else when they met, it’s not clear quite what they got up to together and he went on to die at Gallipoli. Seems suitably angsty and something for Franco to get his teeth into!