DEADLINE: Director Václav Marhoul (The Painted Bird) has tapped two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) to star as controversial U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy in the biopic we first revealed last year.
McCarthy will look at the man behind anti-communist doctrine McCarthyism to understand what drove a lawyer and decorated former U.S. Marine down an unprecedented path of demagoguery, show-trials and venomous populism.
Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Scoot McNairy (C’mon C’mon) will star together with Shannon.
Clarke will play McCarthy’s politically ambitious wife Jean Kerr; DeHaan will be his ruthless young lawyer Roy Cohn. Pic is slated to go into production in the fall 2022 in Prague and the U.S.
Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard franchise) wrote the original screenplay. The film is produced by Zach Studin together with O’Connor. Rick McCallum, producer of the three Star Wars films – The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith will executive-produce.
HanWay Films has come on board to handle international sales and distribution of the movie and will commence sales at next month’s virtual American Film Market. CAA Media Finance will oversee the U.S sale.
Marhoul previously played in Competition at the Venice Film Festival for drama The Painted Bird.
Heads of department include cinematographer Vladimír Smutný (The Painted Bird, Kolja) and Emmy award-winning production designer Ján Vlasák (The Painted Bird).
Post production and VFX will be handled by visual effects and post production house UPP, renowned for their work on Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman, Terminator: Dark Fate, Skyscraper, Rampage and Gemini Man.
Zach Studin commented: “The saga of Joe McCarthy is timeless and the drama behind his rise to power, sobering. It is a powerful reminder to us all that truth and facts are the lifeblood of a free and open society. Tom’s exceptional screenplay, Václav’s uncompromising vision and this remarkable ensemble gives the film the necessary foundation to properly explore this chilling and critical chapter of American history.”
HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart also noted: “There are many countries around the world dealing with their own McCarthys right now and it is no surprise that a director who grew up behind the iron curtain should wish to lift the veil on McCarthy, the ultimate architect of populism. True stories are stranger than fiction, and Tom O’Connor’s screenplay is brilliantly researched, both shocking and entertaining, yet treats its villainous characters with true human complexity. Shannon is perfectly suited to inhabit the role of McCarthy and in Jean Kerr, our story’s very own Lady Macbeth, there’s a delicious role for Emilia Clarke.”
Shannon is represented by CAA, Range Media Partners, and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman. Clarke by CAA, Range Media Partners, Emptage Hallett, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman. DeHaan is represented by CAA, MGMT, and Sloan, Offer, Weber & Dern. McNairy by UTA and The Group Management. Marhoul is represented by CAA, O’Connor by Verve and 42 and Studin by Morris, Yorn, Barnes, Levine, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner & Geller.
I talked to Emilia Clarke about the GAME OF THRONES finale reaction. “I get why people were pissed”. Lots in here.
Watch the whole chat at https://t.co/e84WokCDhq!
And pre-order Emilia’s new comic, M.O.M.!! pic.twitter.com/ngsyLmwVE3
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) June 16, 2021
VARIETY: Emilia Clarke is in final negotiations to join Marvel Studios’ “Secret Invasion,” the hot original series quickly coming together at Disney Plus.
The “Game of Thrones” headliner’s role is naturally under wraps, and marks her first foray into the Marvel universe. She joins previously-reported cast Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Olivia Colman.
Marvel Studios declined to comment on the matter. Reps for Clarke did not immediately comment on the matter.
“Secret Invasion” was announced as a development property last year, one of Marvel’s many planned titles for Disney Plus. Jackson is reprising his MCU role of Nick Fury, while Mendelsohn will play the Skrull Talos as he did in the feature film “Captain Marvel.” “
The series is said to follow a group of shape-shifting aliens who have been infiltrating Earth for years. Ben-Adir has been set as the a main villain. Kyle Bradstreet is attached to write and executive produce. Kevin Feige’s unit is producing the series for the streamer, as it does all other MCU titles, including the hits “WandaVision” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Clarke is a four-time Emmy nominee for her portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s global smash “Game of Thrones,” which just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its premiere. She is also a multiple Critics Choice Award nominee and was the 2018 recipient of the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Clarke is an AMPAS member and was also noted as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. She is repped by Range Media Partners, CAA, Emptage Hallett, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.
Her film credits include the holiday film “Last Christmas,” “Me Before You,” “Terminator Genisys,” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” She’ll voice a role in the upcoming animated film “The Amazing Maurice.”
VARIETY – Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Laurie (“House”) and “Game of Thrones” actor Emilia Clarke will be part of the voice cast for animated feature “The Amazing Maurice.”
The voice cast also includes David Thewlis (“Wonder Woman”), Himesh Patel (“Yesterday”), Gemma Arterton (“Vita & Virginia”) and Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”). Toby Genkel (“Two by Two: Overboard!”) and Florian Westermann (“Little Dodo”) will co-direct.
The film will be an adaptation of bestselling author, the late Terry Pratchett’s 2001 book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,” which is part of his iconic Discworld series. The book is a take on the popular folk tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. It won the Carnegie medal that recognizes the best children’s book in the U.K.
The story follows a streetwise ginger cat who has the perfect money-making scam. He finds a kid who plays a pipe, and also befriends his very own horde of talking rats. When they reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, their con game goes awry.
The charity reading will take place on Sunday 25 October
WHAT’S ON STAGE – A virtual reading of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound will take place via Zoom at 7pm on 25 October.
Jonathan Church will direct Sanjeev Bhaskar (Magnus), Samantha Bond (Cynthia), Simon Callow (Moon), Emilia Clarke (Felicity), Freddie Fox (Simon), Derek Jacobi (Birdboot), Jennifer Saunders (Mrs Drudge) and Gary Wilmot (Hound) in the production, which is narrated by Robert Lindsay.
Stoppard’s farce, which first premiered in 1968 with a cast including the likes of Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker, parodies the Agatha Christie thrillers.
The show won’t be recorded or repeated, with all proceeds from tickets (costing £35) going to the Royal Theatrical Fund. A previous reading of Private Lives raised more than £44,000 earlier this year.
Daenerys Targaryen star on powering through season 2 during a secret health struggle: “I had the Willy Wonka golden ticket. I wasn’t about to hand that in.”
EW – Emilia Clarke wasn’t feeling well.
It was September 2012. Game of Thrones was filming an intense season 2 scene in a sun-drenched quarry in Croatia. Clarke was in costume as Daenerys Targaryen, standing before the towering Gates of Qarth, demanding the city’s leaders provide refuge to her and the tattered remains of her weary khalasar. “Turn us away and we will burn you first!” she warned.
As usual when playing the character, Clarke’s long, dark hair was smushed into a bald cap glued onto her head, and then a tight blond wig was affixed on top of that. Standing in the intense heat, hour after hour, Clarke felt like her skull was baking. Later, the actress bowed out of a scheduled interview due to “heatstroke.” As Clarke cheerfully explained later that week, “Oh, the other day? I just had a bit of a ‘can’t cope with the heat’ moment. . . .”
Clarke wouldn’t reveal the deeper and far more serious reason for her exhaustion for another eight years. After filming Thrones season one, the acclaimed Thrones star had suffered a brain hemorrhage at a gym in London. “I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain,” Clarke wrote in The New Yorker. As she was rushed to the hospital, Clarke recalled lines of Daenerys Targaryen’s dialogue to try to calm herself. The actress underwent emergency surgery and for several days couldn’t even remember her own name, let alone speeches in Dothraki.
Somehow, just weeks later, Clarke returned to work on Thrones despite still having a second growth on her brain that a doctor said might— in theory, though it was unlikely—“pop at any time.”
Day after day on set, Clarke continued to deliver her usual ferocious performance as Daenerys Targaryen without giving any indication of her fatigue, fear, and pain. Only a few people who worked on the show had any idea what the actress was really going through.
In my upcoming book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, Clarke and others recounted what it was like on the set after the actress experienced a traumatic injury that would have completely sidelined so many others.
EMILIA CLARKE (Daenerys Targaryen): It was crazy intense. We are in the desert in a quarry in like ninety-degree heat, and I had the consistent fear that I was going to have another brain hemorrhage. I spent a lot time just being like: “Am I gonna die? Is that gonna happen on set? Because that would be really inconvenient.” And with any kind of brain injury it leaves you with a fatigue that’s indescribable. I was trying so hard to keep it under wraps.
BRYAN COGMAN (co-executive producer): Only a very select few people knew about that. I was completely unaware. I heard a little bit that she had some problems between seasons, but nothing to that extent. And I had no clue while we were shooting.
ALAN TAYLOR (director): We were afraid for her. She’s so brave, because it never affected her commitment to the work.
EMILIA CLARKE: If I had called my doctor, he would have been like, “Dude, you just need to chill out.” But I still felt blind fear, and the fear was making me panic, and the panic was leading me to feel like I’m going to pass out in the desert. So they brought in an air-conditioned car for me—sorry, planet.
DAN WEISS (showrunner): It was terrifying because this amazing, sweet, wonderful human being came this close to not being around anymore— this person we loved so much after just one year. Obviously you need to make the show, but the important thing was making sure she was in a safe situation. You ask yourself: Is she as safe doing this show as if she was not doing it? If she was home sitting on her couch? She was so gung-ho, the main thing for us was making sure she wouldn’t put herself [in dangerous situations]. She would say: “Yeah, I just had brain surgery and if I need to gallop on a horse down a mountainside, I’ll do it.” You would have to tell her no because she would never say no.
EMILIA CLARKE: In all of my years on the show, I never put self-health first, which is probably why everyone else was worrying, as they could see that. They didn’t want to work me too hard. I was like: “Don’t think I’m a failure; don’t think I can’t do the job that I’ve been hired to do. Please don’t think I’m going to f–k up at any moment.” I had the Willy Wonka golden ticket. I wasn’t about to hand that in.
Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon – the complete uncensored story of making Thrones – is released Tuesday, Oct. 6 and available for preorder.
