AICN (via Empire) is reporting that Roland Emmerich has signed on a handful of talented British actors to film Anonymous, which revolves around the widely-spewed conspiracy theory that there was never actually a William Shakespeare, but rather that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the pen behind the man.
Here’s what Emmerich has to say about the film:
“It’s a mix of a lot of things: it’s an historical thriller because it’s about who will succeed Queen Elizabeth and the struggle of the people who want to have a hand in it. It’s the Tudors on one side and the Cecils on the other, and in between [the two] is the Queen. Through that story we tell how the plays written by the Earl of Oxford ended up labeled ‘William Shakespeare’.”
And about the cast:
“We have Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Elizabeth; David Thewlis as William Cecil, old and young; and Rhys Ifans as The Earl Of Oxford. It’s a true English cast and I’m really proud of it. There’s 12 main characters and 20 or 30 other characters, and each of the characters is really good.”
Ifans as the lead? Color me curious, even though the character actor is Welsh, but close enough right? Historically, the earl was a royal figure overshadowed constantly by Robert Cecil, Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary of State, who is thought to be the inspiration for the Polonius character in Hamlet.
For many, the belief is that de Vere was the leader of what is known as “the group theory” of Shakespeare, which suggests that the scribe’s wide collection of masterful works was a written by Tudor royalty of the time.
Does Emmerich have to direct this film? Can’t it be someone like Stephen Frears?
Filming is set to begin in Berlin in March.
Are you interested in this film? In Emmerich behind the camera?