Anthony Hopkins to do a modern adaptation of "King Lear."

Oh honey, is this the one where he eats Emma Thompson?

I remember reading about this last week. It sounds promising for sure.

I had no idea that this has a dystopian setting 

I have mixed feelings in these crypto-fascist updates of Shakespeare particularly Lear - obviously McKellan's Richard III gets a lot of credit for this and true it provided a spectacular showcase for its star indeed. But there's a lot to be said to seeing Richard III in its setting, in period too - and if not enough people can get it, oh well too bad.

But with Lear you wonder if, unlike Richard, the update is going to start to dwarf the text........guess we'll find out. On the plus side, of all the great actors, Hopkins is of the very best at penetrating, foreboding silences something you would think would be monumental as Lear.

Lear is of course a great role (the greatest, ever?) but it's funny that for all the cracks at it - no one really gets thought of as a definitive Lear while playing Lear - Olivier's TV version (a personal favorite), McKellan's recent and towering stage version, Scofield's film version (done I think before he was 50!), and now Hopkins - these are all time great actors of course but most would answer an adaptation almost entirely removed from the source (Kurosawa's Ran) is the standard.

Many more productions are always discussed too (Pacino on film, I think on stage would be a big mistake, Washington on stage seems a strong possibility in the next few years, Ian Holm, Langella and Kline have already done it, Rylance will obviously do it at some point, Lithgow did it.......Morgan Freeman maybe could be a good one, I think that would cause a lot of interest, James Earl Jones has done it, Antony Sher JUST did it, and last but certainly not least, Glenda Jackson).

It's kind of crazy ......just like the old King himself

Yeah, this bothers me some. It worked for that production, no doubt. But I don't really see how it adds to most Shakespeare plays. What does making Lear or Coriolanus or Henry V (actually, that would be interesting!) fascists help to enlighten the themes of the text? I have nothing against modern garb or ambiguously designed productions, but fascism is so specific in its stylings -- and so removed from modern sensibilities. Most of us don't look up to people dressed as Nazis or imagine our modern military goosestepping.

It places a layer between the audience and the text, instead of helping to ease the audience into the text.

Yes if it airs in US I think prior to June 1st its eligible.

F*ck that's the last thing Pacino needed this year is more competition,

This year is just stacked for Best Actor - how can anyone say this category is less competitive than BA at the Oscars anymore - and Pacino who I thought was majorly great in Paterno is not a really a 100% lock to even get in - Cumberbatch, Mclaughlin, Shannon (Waco), Daniels, Criss (who I think is your winner but I wasn't that impressed), Hopkins (possibly), Jordan, Banderas, Plemons, etc.

Apparently Hopkins has already screened this for, among other people, Rylance.

Good interview about this project with the director Richard Eyre, from The Guardian.

He also notes he might do a Strindberg play with Lesley Manville and Ralph Fiennes...

I don't know how this will come off but he has such a conversational manner (which I actually dislike in actors often, yet not here, with him) you can see how great he might be - understands the text enough to own the text. I can't understand how this is 115 minutes(?)

REVIEWS, mixed-to-positive so far.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/may/28/bbc-king-lear-review-anthony-hopkins


www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/king-lear-review-bbc-amazon-anthony-hopkins-andrew-scott-emma-thompson-shakespeare-a8373481.html


Telegraph can't be read unless you're subscribed but they gave it 3/5 stars....