Al PacinoandJessica Chastain’sKing Learadaptation,Lear Rex, has assembled an all-star cast.Peter Dinklage,LaKeith Stanfield,Ariana DeBose, andRachel Brosnahanare only four of the noted thespians who will play the parts of one ofWilliam Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Deadline reports that the film will start production on August 12 in Los Angeles.
In addition to Pacino, who will play Lear, and Chastain, who will play Goneril, the film will also feature DeBose (West Side Story) as Cordelia, Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Regan, Dinklage (Game of Thrones) as the Fool,Danny Huston(Wonder Woman) as Albany,Chris Messina(The Mindy Project) as Cornwall, Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Edmund,Ted Levine(Silence of the Lambs) as Kent,Matthew Jacobs(Boxing Day) as Gloucester,Rhys Coiro(Entourage) as Oswald, andStephen Dorff(True Detective) as Poor Tom.Bernard Rose(Candyman), who will write and direct Lear Rex, had this to say about the cast’s new additions courtesy of producerBarry Navidiand casting directorSharon Howard-Field: “It is enormously exciting to get the opportunity to work with this extraordinary cast that Al, Barry, and Sharon have put together to tackle this radical, but accessible adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest play.”
What Is ‘King Lear’ About?
First performed in 1606,King Learcenters around the titular monarch. The aging king wishes to divide his kingdom between his three daughters; while Regan and Goneril agree and lavish him with praise, the third, Cordelia, refuses and is disowned. Lear eventually realizes that the praise offered to him by Regan and Goneril was insincere, and that only Cordelia truly loved him - but by then it is too late, and he becomes a madman wandering the wilderness as courtly intrigues destroy his former kingdom. Lear is considered one of the greatShakespearean lead roles, and the play has been adapted many times for the screen, with actors as diverse asOrson Welles,Ian McKellen,Brian Blessed,Paul Scofield,Anthony Hopkins, and even novelistNorman Mailertaking on the role of the mad king.Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 epicRantransported the play to feudal Japan, in a film that is now considered one of Kurosawa’s masterpieces. 1997’sA Thousand Acres, an adaptation ofJane Smiley’s novel of the same name, reexamined the play from a contemporary feminist perspective, and starredMichelle Pfeiffer,Jessica Lange, andJennifer Jason Leigh.
Pacino is no stranger to Shakespeare on stage and screen. On stage, he appeared in productions ofRichard IIIandJulius Caesar, and starred as Shylock inMichael Radford’s 2004 adaptation ofThe Merchant of Venice. He made his directorial debut with 1996’sLooking for Richard, which combined a performance ofRichard IIIwith a behind-the-scenes narrative of its production.Francis Ford Coppolaalso added elements ofLearintoThe Godfather, Part III, which starred Pacino.
Lear Rexwill begin production next week in Los Angeles;it has not yet set a release date. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
