Helen Mirren is lined up to star in a big-screen version of Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
According to film trade magazine, Hollywood Reporter, director Julie Taymor has changed the gender of main character Prospera specifically so that Mirren could take the role.
Shakespeare’s castaway play mixes the supernatural with fraternal politics, and will centre around Prospera, her daughter, and a shipwrecked crew of Prospera’s enemies.
Oscar-winner Helen (who won Best Actress for The Queen in 2007), will join a host of other Academy Award-winning stars in the movie, including Jeremy Irons (Best Actor for Reversal of Fortune), and Geoffrey Rush, who picked up the gong for Shine.
Other stars lined up to appear in the movie include Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, and Blood Diamond star Djimon Hounsou.
This will be the second time Taymor has adapted a Shakespeare play for the silver screen, after turning Titus Andronicus into the 1999 film Titus, with Anthony Hopkins in the lead role.
Shooting of the movie is due to start in November in Hawaii.
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Helen Mirren to star in Tempest
By Ruth Doherty - Friday 10 October 2008
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