“Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke will play poet Elizabeth Barrett in “Let Me Count the Ways,” with Bjorn Runge directing the love story from a Paula Milne script. Based on a true story, the film will follow the love affair between poet Barrett and playwright Robert Browning.
Damian Jones of DJ Films (“Goodbye Christopher Robin”) and Bankside Films are producing. It is their second collaboration following Amma Asante’s “Belle.” Bankside developed the film as part of its growing production slate. It holds the international sales rights and will introduce the film to buyers for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival.
Clarke is hot property after “Game of Thrones,” and Runge is coming off the success of “The Wife.” BAFTA-winning Milne is one of the U.K.’s leading screenwriters.
Set in the mid-19th century, the film follows Elizabeth as she is living in the family home with her siblings in an affluent part of London. She has gained fame and recognition for her poetry but, weakened by a mysterious illness, lives as a virtual recluse, reliant on laudanum. The youthful, impulsive Robert Browning comes into her life, awakening a passion she had previously only ever written about. But the closer she and Browning get, the more her father fights to keep control over her.
“We are thrilled to be able to bring this most compelling of love stories to the world, and to be able to do so with such a talented team of people both in front and behind the camera is a privilege,” said Bankside’s Stephen Kelliher.
Jones added: “This film is a classic love story which delivers something entirely unexpected and relevant in today’s world, and I am excited to be embarking on this journey with an outstanding team of people.” [Source]
Universal has dated its Paul Feig-directed romantic comedy Last Christmas starring Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding and Emma Thompson for November 8, 2019. That’s ahead a week from its originally announced November 15 date. Deadline broke the news about the project back in June.
Last Christmas is inspired by the hit holiday ballad by the late George Michael and will feature unreleased music by the former Wham co-founder who has sold north of 115 million albums and recorded 10 No. 1 singles throughout his career. Pic was written by Oscar winner Thompson and playwright Bryony Kimmings.
In the movie, Kate (Clarke) harumphs around London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. Tom (Golding) seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. As London transforms into the most wonderful time of the year, nothing should work for these two.
Last Christmas is produced by Feig and Jessie Henderson for his Feigco Entertainment, by BAFTA winner David Livingstone for Calamity Films, and Thompson.
On November 8, the film now joins releases for Warner Bros’ Doctor Sleep, Lionsgate’s WWII pic Midway and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
Don’t underestimate British-centered holiday romantic comedies. Working Title/Universal’s ensemble Love Actually is still a holiday perennial, made for $40M back in 2003, amassing a then global cume of $246.9M. Thompson also starred in that movie. [Source]
Emilia Clarke has conquered her health issues. Now will Daenerys conquer the Seven Kingdoms?
Women all over the world are riding the tiger.
Except Emilia Clarke.
She’s riding the dragon.
The fire-and-ice fantasy world of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” may be set in feudal times, but the heady whoosh of women leaders rising on the show, as it reaches its bloody conclusion, parallels the heady whoosh of women leaders rising around the globe in the last couple of years.
All eyes are now on the fierce four: Daenerys, Cersei, Sansa and Arya. Going into its eighth and final season, the show has offered a primer in how a female leader must act differently than a male leader in a world run predominantly by men — the double standards, the way an action can be perceived in very different ways depending on whether it’s a man or a woman undertaking it.
“The whole show is just a discussion on power,” Clarke tells me in an interview at the Mandarin Oriental before the premiere at Radio City Music Hall. “Because the Iron Throne is representative of complete and consuming power and what that does to someone. It’s fascinating, what I’ve found about the sacrifices that you make and what you get out of it as a result. Ultimately, if you get on the throne, what are you really getting?”
She cites her beautiful and icy Lannister rival, Queen Cersei (played by Lena Headey), who has lost her three children to murder and suicide and driven off Jaime, her brother/lover, who grew disgusted by her rapaciousness.
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