Julie Taymor, Helen Mirren gender-bending “The Tempest”

Posted by brandy

on October 8, 2008M at 9:38 pm

Helen Mirren

Julie Taymor (”Across the Universe,” Broadway’s “The Lion King”) is taking some interesting risks with her star-studded adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

Taymor has cast Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren in the lead role of Prospero, the learned sorcerer and deposed Duke of Milan stranded on a desert island because of his brother’s treachery. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the role will be renamed Prospera, and I’m assuming Mirren will play a duchess rather than a duke.

The story centers on the stranded royal, his, er, her daughter, and a ship full of their enemies that wrecks on the island during a storm (that would be the tempest of the title).

On the island, the high-profile cast will include Felicity Jones (”Brideshead Revisited”) as Miranda, Ben Wishaw (also of “Brideshead”) as the spirit Ariel, and Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou as the deformed slave Caliban.

The ship will be loaded with even more stars: Oscar winner Jeremy Irons as Alonso, the King of Naples; Alfred Molina (”Spider-Man 2″) as the drunken butler Stephano; and Russell Brand (”Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) as Trinculo the jester.

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush is in talks to play Gonzalo, a royal adviser and old friend of Prospera’s, according to the trade magazine.

Filming could start in November in Hawaii; the movie is set for 2009 release.

“The Tempest” is Taymor’s second Shakespearean adaptation; her 1999 film “Titus” is her vision of The Bard’s “Titus Andronicus.”

Filmmakers do it all the time, but I’m not too keen on making huge changes to Shakespeare. There’s a reason the guy is the best known author that’s ever worked in the English language. But Mirren is an incredible actress; if anyone can pull off Prospera, it’s her.

-BAM

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