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Gillian! Rufus! Keeley! Billie!
Still not sure whether this story needs to be told this soon but the casting is intriguing to say the least.
ReplyFYC: Better Call Saul, The English and The Good Fight in all categories including Emily Blunt, Bob Odenkirk, Christine Baranski and Rhea Seehorn.
It’s mildly interesting to me that even though real life women are often, even usually, played by actresses younger than they are, Gillian Anderson at 52 is currently 5 years older than Emily Maitlis was when she interviewed Prince Andrew. It’s not just their ages but I can envision Keeley Hawes as Maitlis more easily than I can envision Gillian Anderson playing her.
Some trivia- When Carey Mulligan was preparing to play Megan Twohey in She Said, she spoke with Emily Maitlis for some insights on what it was like to be an investigative reporter interviewing difficult/powerful subjects who are resistant to providing information. (Maitlis has written an autobiography which she hopes will become a movie or miniseries and told Piers Morgan that if she had her choice, her younger self would be played by Carey Mulligan or Jessie Buckley.)
ReplyCopy URLIt’s mildly interesting to me that even though real life women are often, even usually, played by actresses younger than they are, Gillian Anderson at 52 is currently 5 years older than Emily Maitlis was when she interviewed Prince Andrew. It’s not just their ages but I can envision Keeley Hawes as Maitlis more easily than I can envision Gillian Anderson playing her. Some trivia- When Carey Mulligan was preparing to play Megan Twohey in She Said, she spoke with Emily Maitlis for some insights on what it was like to be an investigative reporter interviewing difficult/powerful subjects who are resistant to providing information. (Maitlis has written an autobiography which she hopes will become a movie or miniseries and told Piers Morgan that if she had her choice, her younger self would be played by Carey Mulligan or Jessie Buckley.)
I actually feel the opposite. Whilst Anderson is older than Maitlis was when this interview took place I feel like Maitlis has this sort of colder and in a sense sophisticated aura around her that a thespian like Anderson can really tap into well. Hawes is an excellent actor but I feel like where she shines much more is as a star and I’m not so sure whether that would be suitable for that particular role.
I’m more interested by Piper and Sewell being a part of this because they’re both usually very selective when it comes their choices (especially the former when it comes to films in particular). I’m hoping their involvement in this is a sign it will be more She Said or Frost/Nixon than say Bombshell or This England.
ReplyCopy URLFYC: Better Call Saul, The English and The Good Fight in all categories including Emily Blunt, Bob Odenkirk, Christine Baranski and Rhea Seehorn.
I actually feel the opposite. Whilst Anderson is older than Maitlis was when this interview took place I feel like Maitlis has this sort of colder and in a sense sophisticated aura around her that a thespian like Anderson can really tap into well. Hawes is an excellent actor but I feel like where she shines much more is as a star and I’m not so sure whether that would be suitable for that particular role.
Hmmm. I just binged the two Line of Duty seasons in which Keeley Hawes played DI Lindsay Denton, as well as Season 2 of The Hollow Crown in which she played Edward IV’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, (Hawes wasn’t the main star of those productions), and they make me think she could pull off a colder aura in a “non-star” part exceptionally well, but I agree that many of Anderson’s roles, especially Lady Dedlock in Bleak House and Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, suggest that she’d also be excellent playing Maitlis. You may (or may not) be underestimating Keeley Hayes’s range. In any case, I often enjoy seeing good actresses in types of roles I haven’t seen them play before.
ReplyCopy URLHmmm. I just binged the two Line of Duty seasons in which Keeley Hawes played DI Lindsay Denton, as well as Season 2 of The Hollow Crown in which she played Edward IV’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, (Hawes wasn’t the main star of those productions), and they make me think she could pull off a colder aura in a “non-star” part exceptionally well, but I agree that many of Anderson’s roles, especially Lady Dedlock in Bleak House and Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, suggest that she’d also be excellent playing Maitlis. You may (or may not) be underestimating Keeley Hayes’s range. In any case, I often enjoy seeing good actresses in types of roles I haven’t seen them play before.
I don’t doubt Hawes has fantastic range (she’s quite renowned over here for a reason!) I suppose what I meant more was that I can see why Anderson was cast as Maitlis instead as I think to make a drama like this work you really need an actor who can disappear into the background in order for a story so familiar (and in this case recent) to the audience to be so convincingly portrayed on screen. Hawes does have the capacity to play a role like this (and it would be interesting to see what she may have done with it for the reasons you’ve mentioned) but it also makes sense to me why Anderson was cast in this role instead seeing as she has shown herself over a 30+ year career across film, television and stage to be able to switch between really loud and bombastic (like Margaret Thatcher and Blanche du Bois) to comparatively quieter and more down to earth characters (like Stella Gibson and Dana Scully) really well. Both are household names (at least in the UK) and very well respected and talented actors but Anderson has a much bigger reputation as an actor whilst Hawes is one of Britain’s biggest TV stars and I think seeing how big this interview was (in the UK at least) and how big both a media personality Emily Maitlis is over here and how distinctive Prince Andrew is as a member of the Royal Family, you need actors who can slip into those roles who can really immerse the viewer into the telling of a story that people are already so familiar with. Hawes could be capable of doing that but I can see at the same time why a casting director would see it as a risk casting her in this role as most of the attention towards the film (at least in the UK) would be towards it being a “Keeley Hawes vehicle” as opposed to it being a dramatisation of the events being told.
I’m glad you’ve been checking out and enjoying Hawes’s work on Line of Duty! Her performance really is masterful and one of her best (and whilst the second and third seasons are the best of that show in their own right, it’s hard to imagine it working in the same way without her in them). It’s a real shame she had to come up against such stiff competition at the BAFTA television awards for season 2. Which season are you up to?
ReplyCopy URLFYC: Better Call Saul, The English and The Good Fight in all categories including Emily Blunt, Bob Odenkirk, Christine Baranski and Rhea Seehorn.
I’m now almost done with Season 4 of Line of Duty. I may start to curb the solid binging because I don’t want it to end. It’s SO good. I’m really impressed by Thandiwe Newton in this. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her give a better performance in any other role.
As for Keeley Hawes, I didn’t mean to insult your appreciation of her work and range. My bad. In the U.S., my sense is that other than The Bodyguard and The Durrells, she’s not tremendously well known. Like Nicola Walker, she deserves to be much bigger here.
ReplyCopy URLI’m now almost done with Season 4 of Line of Duty. I may start to curb the solid binging because I don’t want it to end. It’s SO good. I’m really impressed by Thandiwe Newton in this. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her give a better performance in any other role. As for Keeley Hawes, I didn’t mean to insult your appreciation of her work and range. My bad. In the U.S., my sense is that other than The Bodyguard and The Durrells, she’s not tremendously well known. Like Nicola Walker, she deserves to be much bigger here.
No worries! I understand and appreciate how easy it is for miscommunication to arise on here and I didn’t feel insulted by any means at all!
Whilst Nicola Walker is quite highly regarded over here (and very much in demand) I always still feel like she still isn’t really given quite as much recognition as she deserves as an actor (at least compared to someone like say Keeley Hawes or even her Last Tango in Halifax co-star Sarah Lancashire). I really feel like it’s a testament to an actor’s talent that going into a production you really are kept in suspense about how they’re going to embody a character. She really continues to amaze me every time I see her on screen even in more peripheral roles (have you seen David Hare’s Collateral with Carey Mulligan yet? I believe it should be on Netflix in the US).
ReplyCopy URLFYC: Better Call Saul, The English and The Good Fight in all categories including Emily Blunt, Bob Odenkirk, Christine Baranski and Rhea Seehorn.
I just assumed this was a miniseries by the description but seeing it’s a movie is interesting. I generally tend to think movies/tv about very recent events almost never work so I’m not expecting much from this, but in terms of awards I’m wondering if it can be something like a Bombshell (or even She Said) and get some oscar buzz. It’s been a few decades since Anderson has had any movie awards attention so the few she does make are usually ignored, but she’s on a second peak in her TV career so I’m curious to see if this gets talked about as an awards contender when it comes out. In general this cast and production team is full of people who’s biggest hits have all been TV, a very interesting bridge of the TV/Movie prestige divide streaming is slowly eliminating.
If it does we should also keep an eye out for Billie Piper. She’s yet to really break through into the American mainstream, but when she does show up in things she POPS, and she’s playing the character whose memoir they’re using as the source material.
ReplyCopy URLSewell is actually the one I’m most curious about as potentially being an awards breakout if this film attracts attention. Not only does he have the baitiest role on paper but it has also been reported that he is going to be donning prosthetics for this performance so for better or for worse there is going to be a lot of attention on him and whether his performance ends up being a successful one or not.
If it does we should also keep an eye out for Billie Piper. She’s yet to really break through into the American mainstream, but when she does show up in things she POPS, and she’s playing the character whose memoir they’re using as the source material
Her industry standing on both sides of the Atlantic has also risen a bit over the past few years. She is obviously much more well known in the UK than she is internationally but she garnered a lot of critical acclaim and industry attention for her roles in Yerma on stage (for which she became the only person to ever win every single major British theatre award for one performance) and I Hate Suzie which didn’t get as much attention as it deserved (at least outside of the UK) but definitely did raise her profile with a lot of her industry peers. Just last year she had a major role in Lena Dunham’s film Catherine Called Birdy.
ReplyCopy URLFYC: Better Call Saul, The English and The Good Fight in all categories including Emily Blunt, Bob Odenkirk, Christine Baranski and Rhea Seehorn.
Sewell is actually the one I’m most curious about as potentially being an awards breakout if this film attracts attention. Not only does he have the baitiest role on paper but it has also been reported that he is going to be donning prosthetics for this performance so for better or for worse there is going to be a lot of attention on him and whether his performance ends up being a successful one or not.
according to this article: https://medium.com/@royalrundown/the-real-reason-for-andrews-movie-bab2ac26abf2
“if the film follows the book, Andrew, ironically, is really a side character. This is a story of a determined team of professional women: McAlister, Maitlis, the Newsnight crew, Amanda Thirsk, Princess Beatrice, even the invisible but ever-present Queen — that is where the real drama of this story lies”
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