I got this message through the Pen Pal page, but I think the blog is a better place for it:
Dear Tudor fans,
If you know anyone, from any walk of life, who claims to be a descendant of Henry VIII, and would agree to be filmed in a documentary, please ask him or her to contact me at:
Thank you.
Tallisman
From the article:
James and Brynn Tudor have made history by becoming Birmingham’s first gay couple to tie the knot and form a civil partnership.
…
As soon as we first heard that the government was considering the legislation, so many months ago, we began making plans. I myself already had an idea of how I wished our ceremony to look and after talking it through with Brynn it was decided that we would have a Henry VIII and his six wives theme.
Be sure to check out the cake too!
This has been floating around as a rumor for a while, but Variety is reporting today (and many other news sources are quoting them) that Scarlett Johansson has indeed been cast to play Mary Boleyn alongside Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.
Here are a few of the news articles:
Johansson in Tudor love triangle – The Guardian
Johansson Joins The Other Boleyn Girl – Comingsoon.net
Scarlett Johansson is The Other Boleyn Girl – Movieweb
(some original links have expired and have been removed)
Courtesy of Kelly Rogers — Tudor Haikus!
Thanks for the submission Kelly!
From The Guardian:
Channel 4’s Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren as the virgin queen, has scooped 13 nominations at this year’s prestigious Primetime Emmys, in what could be a bumper year for UK productions.
Full article (including a link to all the nominations)
At the risk of revealing what a nerd I am, it was interesting to see Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson nominated in the same category. When Gillian Anderson won her Emmy for her role as Scully in the X-Files, Helen Mirren presented it to her. I recall Gillian remarking about how honored she was being presented the award from Helen Mirren, whom she admires. Now they are both nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Mini Series!
ShowBiz Ireland has posted some photos of several of the actors in costume for their roles in “The Tudors”, currently filming for the US channel Showtime. Above are Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a young Henry VIII.
A lot of news alerts came in overnight with the news that Natalie Portman and Eric Bana are in negotiations to play Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII in the big screen version of Philippa Gregory’s “The Other Boleyn Girl”. I had previously heard Keira Knightly’s name bandied about for Anne, which I thought was a good choice, but I’m sure Portman will be good as well. Star Wars fans might remember that the two actresses shared the role of Queen Amidala and the handmaid/bodyguard/decoy in Episode I “The Phantom Menace”.
Here are links to some of the articles that came up with my Google news alerts:
‘Boleyn’ turns heads – Variety
Portman and Bana flirting with ‘Boleyn’ – Hollywood Reporter
Off with her head! – Empire
Eric Bana to play King Henry VIII – Moviehole
(original links have expired and have been removed)
It’s quite possible that I am the only person in the world excited about this. I’ve been a fan of Sting for a long time and I love Renaissance music, so this should be fun. From Sting’s website:
… album featuring the music of acclaimed Elizabethan songwriter, John Dowland (1563-1626). Sting is joined on this recording by much-admired lutenist Edin Karamazov, in what he describes as “a soundtrack to Dowland’s life in words and music”. ‘Songs from the Labyrinth’ will appear on Deutsche Grammophon, the world’s most celebrated classical-music record-label.
The full article is available here.
(original links have expired and have been removed)
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After reading the description, I think I’m already dreading this, but I’ll reserve final judgement until I actually see it…
From World Screen:
The one-hour The Secret Life of Elizabeth I: Revealed will examine the gossip, scandal and rumor surrounding the so-called Virgin Queen
I wasn’t planning on doing blow-by-blow coverage of all the news of the new film, but I had to share this since it is such a lovely picture.
Full article and photo
(original links have expired and have been removed)
The BBC Keith Michell “Six Wives of Henry VIII” series from the 1970s has been re-issued on DVD, this time with an added bonus feature of “The Other Boleyn Girl” based on the Philippa Gregory novel.
(original links have expired and have been removed)
From Reuters:
Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Henry Cavill have joined the cast of Showtime’s Henry VIII drama “The Tudors.”
…
Neill will play Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s most important government minister, who possessed great power until he failed to secure for Henry a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.Northam will play famed lawyer, writer and politician Sir Thomas More, who is chiefly remembered for his principled refusal to accept Henry VIII’s claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England, a decision that ended his political career and led to his execution as a traitor.
Cavill will play Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Brandon was Henry VIII’s closest friend, but their friendship was sorely tested when Brandon secretly married Henry’s favorite sister, the beautiful Princess Mary Tudor.
Full article
I’m excited to see Sam Neill in the cast, although he might not be rotund enough for Wolsey!
(original links have expired and have been removed)
Just wanted to remind folks with HBO that the Elizabeth I series with Helen Mirren will be debuting this coming weekend. Part one is on Saturday (the 22nd) and the second part will be on Monday (the 24th).
(original links have expired and have been removed)
Do you look pale and interesting?
Men with beards and pale, interesting ladies step forward – you could be in line for a part in a major new film.
Cambridge residents will have the chance to act in a sequel to the Oscar-winning 1998 film, Elizabeth. Producers are looking for extras for The Golden Age, parts of which will be filmed in Cambridge and Ely this May.
Find out more here
(original links have expired and have been removed)
Because several people have emailed me about these things lately, I thought I would put a note here on the blog about movie news. I’ve added links to the IMDB listings for recently announced Tudor-related movies over on the Movies and TV page. There have been lots of rumors floating around and I’m trying to find out more concrete information for two movies in particular.
The first is a big-screen version of The Other Boleyn Girl. The two names that have been coming up are Keira Knightly as Anne Boleyn (a good choice, I think) and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Henry VIII. Hoffman recently won the Academy Award for playing the lead role in the film Capote.
The other is a sequel to Elizabeth, entitled Elizabeth: The Golden Age, set during the later years of the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots and will climax with the conflict with the Spanish Armada. I’ve been hearing news on and off for over a year now about whether or not this project is going forward and if Cate Blanchett will be returning as Elizabeth. Well, today several news articles (a few links below) came out about production starting next month with Cate in the lead. Here’s hoping the history is a little better this time around (but I’m not holding my breath).
From The Guardian: Cate back for Elizabeth II – the sequel that is
From the BBC: Blanchett revives Elizabeth role
From Playbill:
Stage and screen veterans Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons head the cast of the new HBO Films miniseries “Elizabeth I,” which will debut on the cable network April 22 and 23.
(archive.org link to original article)
An entertaining opinion piece from The Times Online:
Ofsted
JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS TO STAR AS YOUNG HENRY VIII IN NEW SHOWTIME DRAMA SERIES, THE TUDORS
LOS ANGELES (January 19, 2006)
LIKE A VIRGIN
A COSTUME drama about Queen Elizabeth I hardly seems the thing to create controversy, but that is exactly what Paula Milne’s new four-part series for BBC1, The Virgin Queen, has managed to provoke. However it’s not for the reason you might suspect – Milne’s Elizabeth may seem like a modern woman full of recognisable desires, but there is no suggestion that she physically consummated any of her relationships with her many suitors. The Virgin Queen remains a virgin. No, what is troubling purists is that Milne – despite being offered the services of Simon Schama and David Starkey – instead chose among her sources a populist book for teenagers – The Terrible Tudors, which is peppered with lavatory humour – which came from a list of books suggested to Milne by a London headmaster.
Full article here
(original links have expired and have been removed)
The program that was on Masterpiece Theater in the States late last year will be starting on BBC1 on January 22. Check your local listings for times and when the rest of the show will air.
UPDATE: Link for the BBC page on the series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/virginqueen/
