Taymor's Tempest

Well, this is exciting news. Julie Taymor, who has previously directed a powerful, idiosyncratic film adaptation of Titus Andronicus (as well as the wonderful Beatles musical phantasmagoria, Across the Universe), is in post-production on an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Seems that Prospero has been turned into Prospera for this. Hm? But Prospera is played by Helen Mirren. Hmmmmmmm! Wow, I like it. The rest of the cast looks pretty good too: Chris Cooper, Djimon Hounsou (as Caliban, yikes!), Alan Cumming, Alfred Molina, David Straithairn, Tom Conti. Ariel is played by Ben Whishaw, recently seen as the wispy John Keats in Bright Star. Miranda is Felicity Jones, whom I know nothing about. Never heard of the Ferdinand either.

Anyway, it's Taymor, so I'm sure it will be a visual marvel if nothing else, and it's very likely to be more than that, at least if she sticks with Shakespeare's brave new words. It's currently scheduled to come out sometime in 2010. Can't wait! Makes me want to reread the play immediately.