I have to admit I’m far more intrigued by the idea of Madonna directing W.E. than perhaps I ought to be. She doesn’t exactly have a great track record in film and her only previous attempt at directing, Filth and Wisdom, was pretty much completely ignored. However this time she’s thinking bigger, with a film that will tell two Julie And Julia-style parallel stories, one looking back at the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and how the new king decided to abdicate rather than give up his love for the American divorcee, and the other a modern day take about a woman whose life somewhat parallels the 1930s constitutional crisis.
Initially it looked like Madge was going to put quite a movie together, with Ewan McGregor and Vera Farmiga as Edward and Wallis, but then they both dropped out. She’s since been setting her sights slightly lower, with Andrea Riseborough as Wallis Simpson, Abbie Cornish and Oscar Isaac as the cornerstones of the modern day story and now Variety reporting that James D’Arcy is taking over McGregor’s role as the abdicating monarch.
D’Arcy has previously been seen in the likes of Master and Commander, An American Haunting and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, and while he’s posh and regal enough for the role, it has to be said, Madonna’s movie is looking a lot less glossy than when it had Farmiga and McGregor attached.
Shooting starts next month.