Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins will lead a new contemporary version of King Lear, set to premiere on BBC2 in 2018 with a U.S. and German release to follow from Amazon Studios. The project marks the first collaboration between Thompson and Hopkins since their work in the early '90s on the films Howard's End and The Remains of the Day.
Richard Eyre, director of Mary Poppins on Broadway and the West End, will helm the project.
This King Lear will be set in the fictional present, with Hopkins taking on the title role and Thompson that of his daughter Goneril. Co-stars include Emily Watson as Regan, Florence Pugh as Cordelia, Jim Broadbent as the Earl of Gloucester, Andrew Scott (The Vertical Hour on Broadway) as Edgar, and John Macmillan as Edmund. The cast also includes Jim Carter (Downton Abbey), Christopher Eccleston (The Leftovers), Tobias Menzies (Outlander), Anthony Calf (Riviera), and Karl Johnson (Rome).
King Lear is produced by Playground and Sonia Friedman Productions in association with Lemaise Pictures Limited for BBC2.
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