Cymbeline may not be the most famous of Shakespeare’s tales, but decided it was good enough to do what he did with Hamlet back in 2000, and given it a modern day retelling.
As with Hamlet, he’s brought Ethan Hawke onboard to star, with Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, Penn Badgley, Dakota Johnson and Anton Yelchin also starring.
Cymbeline tells the tale as an epic battle between dirty cops and a drug dealing biker gang set in a corruption-riddled 21st century America. King Cymbeline, leader of the Briton Motorcycle Club, clashes with the corrupt Roman Police while his radiant but disobedient daughter Imogen fends off assaults on her honor and her life. Cymbeline’s wife and her son aspire to take over the king’s empire, and Imogen’s marriage to Posthumus is undermined by sinister interference from Iachimo, a malevolent stranger. Shakespeare’s timeless themes are love and betrayal, revenge and forgiveness, death and renewal.
In the original play Imogen dresses as a boy and leaves to go and find her exiled lover, but whether the new film will feature any cross-dressing is yet to be seen. Cymbeline premieres imminently at Venice, with a cinema release expected next year. [Read more…]
The cast only started to come together about a week and a half ago, but with shooting starting next week, Michael Almereyda is having to pull together actors pretty quickly for his modern day take on Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. He’s doing pretty well as he’s already got Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris and Milla Jovovich.
With an imminent start date, director Michael Almereyda is having to pull the cast together fast for his new take on Shakspeare’s Cymbeline. In the last week or so Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris and Penn Badgley have signed on, and now they’ve been joined by Milla Jovovich.
We only first heard about a movie version of Shakepeare’s Cymbeline last week, when it was revealed that Ethan Hawke was set to star in Michael Almereyda’s adaptation. However, with the film set to start shooting in a couple of weeks time, there’s plenty more role to fill.