Marina Antunes [Celluloid 11.28.13] action



This isn't the first time we've seen a re-imagined take on Shakespeare and director Michael Almereyda is an old hand at it having updated Hamlet over a decade ago. Now the director has re-teamed with Ethan Hawke and a ridiculous roster of starts to bring us Cymbeline.

One of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, it's a tragic romance about a beautiful young princess who defies her father King Cymbeline and marries a worthy but lowborn man. Mystery, deceit, treachery and poison, all of the Shakespearean staples, follow before the lovers are re-united. For his adaptation, Almereyda has taken the Roman and Celtic nobility to the streets and infused the story with gang wars, machine gun battles, explosions and a whole lot of grime.


Cymbeline only started shooting in August but it looks like production is moving ahead at breakneck speed considering we already have this trailer which covers much of the story. Along with Hawke, the movie also stars Ed Harris as the titular Cymbeline, Milla Jovovich as his wife, Dakota Johnson as the princess, Penn Badgley as her lover Posthumus, Anton Yelchin as Cloten the King's choice of husband, along with John Leguizamo and Bill Pullman.

If that cast isn't enough, this trailer is pretty badass. That said, the movie doesn't currently have a US distributor. Hopefully that will change in the very near future.



Via The Playlist

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whoah (8 years ago) Reply

a lesser known play!!!???

Marina (8 years ago) Reply

Sorry - did I miss the memo? It's not one of the famous ones that people are always going on about and unless it's changed, I assume the only folks that'll be familiar with this are English Lit majors and avid fans of the Bard...

chuc k (8 years ago) Reply

I've never heard of it, so there ya go.

esophus2442 (8 years ago) Reply

This is Shakespeare's B film, just like Titus Andronicus...which is not a bad thing.

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