For quite a while now, Ralph Fiennes has been putting together his directorial debut, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and now he’s he about to start filming it. He’s also got a couple of very respected actors to join his cast, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox, who recently worked together on the BBC mini-series, The Day Of The Triffids.
In case you don’t know what Coriolanus is about, and quite frankly, who does, it tells the story of legendary Roman general, Gaius Martius (played by Fiennes), who battles against the Volscian army and then gets into politics, only to be exiled from Rome because of his unpopular views. He then joins the Volscians (who are led by Gerard Butler) to try and get revenge against Rome. As with much Shakespeare, it’s a tale full of intrigue and murder, and could actually make a pretty good film.
John Kani, Paul Jesson, James Nesbitt, Ashraf Barhom, Lubna Azabal and Jessica Chastain also feature in the cast of the film, which will start shooting in Belgrade next week, from a script penned by John Logan (and of course Shakespeare, as it will keep the Bard’s language, but combine it with with modern technology and a contemporary environment).